QualPharma December 2020

PATENT AND TRADEMARK
Recent Trends in Pre-grant opposition
The Indian Patenting system allows any
person (third party) to file a pre-grant
opposition and that too free of cost. The
idea behind this provision is to aid the
examination procedure of an invention,
and to encumber granting of wrongful or
frivolous inventions, as was held by the
Hon’ble Delhi High Court in UCB Farchim
vs. Cipla Ltd. & Ors.
“….This Court finds merit in the contention
that the pre-grant opposition is in
fact “in aid of the examination” of
the patent application by the Controller….”
However, quite frequently nowadays, it is
observed, that the third party tries to misuse
their rights in delaying the grant of
several important patents using illegitimate
strategies. In several patent applications
made at Indian Patent Office, a multiple
number of pre-grant oppositions are
filed by the Opponents one after another
without providing useful insights into the
matter by citing any new references or
necessary evidence over the already considered
responses to examination report
or already file representation of oppositions.
This line of attack is merely to delay
the grant of a patent.
Apparently, such strategies do not comply
with the judicial intent of assisting the
examination of the application and is an
exploitation of the legal system of patenting
procedures.
Conclusion
The Opposition system prevalent in our
country may be “a boon or a bane” in the
patenting procedure of a new invention.
To make it a “boon”, some changes in our
legal system are definitely required. The
Controller needs to efficiently identify the
merits in the opposition being filed before
notifying the Applicant about the same. If
the subsequent representation of oppositions
by other opponents carries no further
merits than what has already been
held in the examination reports or former
oppositions, the representation should be
dismissed in-limine. Further, some penalty
must be imposed on such fraudulent
opponents to ensure a legitimate proceeding
of any application as governed by the
Patents Act, with the opposition truly
serving as an ‘aid’ in the examination
procedure towards the grant/refusal of a
patent.
~By Tanu Singh
Leading Patent Provider of Pharmaceutical products
Only one call away
The world leading pharmaceutical
patents provider
www.drsanjayagrawal.com/
9825381729
25 Years of experience in Drugs
innovation and pharmaceutical
product creation
QualPharma *Dec 2020* , Vol.3 ISSUE 12