Filing Of Revocation Petition Can Be Done At Any Time When Such Person's Interest Either Arises Or Continues During Term Of Patent: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that filing of a revocation petition could be done at any point in time when such a person's interest either arises or continues during the life or term of the Patent.

Justice Pratibha M Singh was dealing with a plea raising a question as to whether revocation petitions are subject to any limitation period under the Limitation Act?

The Court held that since there is no limitation which is prescribed either in the Patents Act or under the Patents Rules, a limitation period cannot be read it into the provision.

"In the light of the above cited judicial pronouncements and the dynamic/broad definition of 'persons interested', filing of a revocation petition could be done at any point in time when such a person's interest either arises or continues during the life/term of the Patent," the Court observed.

The Court was dealing with an an application seeking dismissal of the revocation petition on the ground that it was barred by limitation.

The patent in the case was an Indian Patent titled 'Glucopyranosyl-substituted Benzenol derivatives, drugs containing said compounds, the use thereof and method for the production thereof' granted on 18th September, 2017 and published in the official gazette by the Patent Office, on 25th September, 2017. The petition was filed on 16th October, 2021.

"…. this Court notes the procedure for revocation. In the scheme of the Patents Act, the patent application once filed and examined, is granted under Section 43. Upon the grant of the patent, the exclusive rights vest in the Patentee in terms of Section 48 of the Patents Act. The term of the patent however, is for a period of 20 years from the date of priority or date of application in terms of the provisions of the Patents Act. The patent continues to remain in the register for the entire period of the life of the patent which is 20 years," the Court noted.

The Court said that since the interest in seeking revocation could arise at any time, there is no specific limitation period prescribed for seeking revocation under sec. 64.

Further noting that under sec. 25(2), a specific period of limitation has been prescribed for oppositions, the Court observed thus:

"The reason for prescribing a time period in Section 25(2) but not using any such language in Section 64 is not far to seek in as much as the public policy in India dictates that at any point in time, if any person or even the Central Government wishes to seek revocation, it ought to have a remedy to avail of, in accordance with law. To read Article 137 of the Limitation Act, into Section 64 of the Patents Act, would be in effect rewriting the said provision, which would not be permissible by judicial interpretation."

"Moreover, the fact that a 'person interested' can file a counter claim under Section 64 seeking revocation shows that the trigger for the filing of the counter claim may not arise until and unless the suit itself is filed. This itself shows that the limitation of three years cannot be read into the period for filing the revocation petition."

With the aforesaid observations, the application was dismissed.

Title: DR. REDDYS LABORATORIES LIMITED & ANR. v. THE CONTROLLER OF PATENTS & ORS.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 326

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