Controller General of Patents Archives

mechanical approach in process patent registration order

Delhi HC remands process patent registration for fresh consideration; flags Asst. Controller’s mechanical approach and lack of application of mind

An invention must show an inventive step over prior art. However, the Patents Act, 1970 lacks clear guidelines to assess this, leading Examiners to decide applications and oppositions in a rule of thumb manner, purely based on their subjective opinions. This is, clearly, a thoroughly legally unsatisfactory position.

Case Briefs High Courts

Whether expression “any application for grant of a patent for an invention” in S. 39 (1) applies to a patent of addition? Madras HC answers

“The application for grant of a patent of addition cannot be filed earlier than the date of filing of the application for grant of patent for the main invention; it cannot be granted before grant of the patent for the main invention; the term of the patent of addition shall not exceed that of the main invention, even if granted later than the main invention”