The LexCampus Weekly Newsletter No. 3
20th January 2021
This week we look at an important judgment by the High Court of Delhi in the case of Astrazeneca v. Emcure Pharmaceuticals where Court discussed anticipation and its determination in Markush claim patents. It further explained the determination of priority date to check for such anticipation. The Court also shared its views on the development of patent laws in India and the need to watch the gap between disclosure and coverage of a patent. This week’s article discusses the Rules governing patent suits, published by the High Court of Delhi on 09.10.2020. We offer a few tips on drafting a preamble and conclude with a patent related Q&A.
PATENT CASE LAW
Astrazeneca AB & Anr. V. Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd. & Anr.
2020 SCC Online Del 101
The Court in this case decided on two important issues concerning anticipation in Markush claims and the determination of a priority date on the basis of which anticipation is concluded. The Court also touched on the dichotomy between disclosure and coverage in a patent and stated that the law in India should not be developed in a manner that the gap between the two reaches undesirable proportions. Read more
FROM OUR PATENT BLOG
High Court of Delhi Rules Governing Patent Suits, 2020.
The High Court of Delhi released its draft for the Rules governing patent suits on 9th October, 2020, and has asked for suggestions and feedback on the same. The draft is available on the internet, freely accessible to the public, and has garnered attention of various members of the legal fraternity. In this article, the key points of this Draft have been discussed along with a brief analysis of the possible impact of this Draft on patent litigation in India. Read more
A similar discussion on the Amended Patent Rules, 2020 can be found in our previous Newsletter available here.
PATENT DRAFTING TIPS
- It is advisable to describe any workpieces used in the product/process in a manner where its interaction with elements of the patent is explained with a “whereby” clause.
- Furthermore, a more descriptive account of the workpiece maybe included, in case of a methods claim. This would aid in making the recital more comprehensive without creating room for ambiguity.
PATENT Q&A
QUESTION: If someone makes a cooked food, something that is new in its kind, it is unique, prepared with a new recipe, is it possible to make an IPR on this new and unique recipe process, if so in what way this can be protected?
ANSWER: As you would all know, cooking food is not as easy as eating it. There are various IPR issues that arise in the process of creating food items and recipes: Firstly, any recipe can be protected by a copyright because you are expressing the manner in which food has to be prepared and the manner in which it is expressed can be protected by copyright, but copyright is a counter intuitive protection for recipes because the copyright can only protect the manner in which you can express a recipe and it can protect people from copying and circulating and sharing the recipe, it does not stop the person from Read more
#AskProfAli
Tweet your patent related questions to @LexCampus with the hashtag #AskProfAli. Prof. Feroz Ali will answer select questions in our weekly newsletter.