Delhi High Court Rejects Neurocentria Plea To Alter Priority Date To Overcome Missed Patent Deadlines

The Delhi High Court on 18 May dismissed the appeal filed by US-based pharmaceutical company Neurocentria Inc and upheld the October 2024 order of the Deputy Controller of Patents treating the Indian patent application as deemed withdrawn. Justice Jyoti Singh held that a patent applicant cannot seek to retrospectively disclaim its earliest priority date through a belated amendment in order to bypass mandatory statutory timelines under the Patents Act, 1970, including deadlines for national...

Extension Of Arbitral Mandate Requires Sufficient Cause, Wife's Illness Not Enough: Himachal Pradesh HC

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on 20 May held that an application under Section 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking extension of time is maintainable even after expiry of the arbitral mandate, but such extension can be granted only on proof of “sufficient cause”, consistent with the legislative objective of expeditious arbitral resolution. A Bench of Justice Virender Singh dismissed a plea filed by landowner Rajender Kumar seeking extension of time to complete arbitral...

Madhya Pradesh High Court Holds MPIR Execution Not Barred by Limitation, Reads Down Rule 48-A

The Jabalpur Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on 21 April held that execution proceedings under the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act, 1960 (MPIR Act) are not barred by limitation even when initiated after more than a decade of the award. Justice Vivek Jain further read down Rule 48-A of the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Rules, 1961, holding that it cannot override Section 108 of the Act by prescribing a limitation period for execution and dismissed a petition filed by the...

Delhi High Court Upholds ₹25,000 Nominal Damages In IOCL Dispute, Rules Price Difference Not Proof Of Loss

The Delhi High Court on 22 April upheld an arbitral award arising from a supply contract between Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Hazel Mercantile Ltd, where the arbitrator had granted nominal damages of Rs. 25,000. Justice Avneesh Jhingan held that a mere price difference does not, by itself, establish proof of loss and declined to interfere under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. He observed: “The quantification of the nominal damages is a discretion exercised by...

Is ChatGPT An Intermediary Under IT Act? Calcutta High Court Prima Facie Says No

The Calcutta High Court has, in a case examining how generative AI platforms fit within the Information Technology Act, prima facie held that ChatGPT ought to be treated as an “originator” rather than an “intermediary.” The observations came in IndiaMart InterMesh Ltd's suit against OpenAI, where the classification of ChatGPT became central after the B2B platform argued that the AI tool was omitting links to IndiaMart in response to certain user queries while allegedly providing links for rival...

Calcutta High Court Refuses Interim Plea To Direct OpenAI To Show IndiaMart Links On ChatGPT

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday refused to direct OpenAI to show IndiaMart links in ChatGPT responses, holding that the B2B platform has no prima facie legal right to demand visibility on the AI platform. Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur, in an order dated May 20, dismissed IndiaMart InterMesh Ltd's application for interim relief, holding that the company had failed to establish a prima facie case and that the balance of convenience and irreparable injury also weighed against granting any...

Delhi HC Reserves Order On Raghav Chadha's Plea To Takedown Posts Alleging He 'Sold Himself For Money'

The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved orders on BJP MP Raghav Chadha's plea seeking interim relief against social media posts that allegedly portrayed him as having “sold himself for money” after his switch from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the BJP. Chadha has approached the court claiming that the posts unlawfully used his photographs and personal attributes, framing the dispute as one involving personality rights. Justice Subramonium Prasad, however, indicated prima facie reservations...

Arbitral Tribunal Need Not Seek MSME Council Approval Before Passing Final Award: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that the MSMED Act and the Arbitration and Conciliation Act do not envisage any intermediary mechanism requiring an arbitral institution to submit a recommendatory report to a Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council for approval or confirmation. Once a dispute is referred by the Council under the MSMED Act, the arbitral institution can independently render a final arbitral award, the Court held. Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar dismissed a challenge to...

Madras High Court Issues Notice On Plea To Stop Telugu Dub Release of Mohanlal's Drishyam 3

Film production company Rajkumar Theatre Pvt. Ltd. has approached the Madras High Court seeking to restrain the producers and director of Malayalam movie “Drishyam 3."When the case came up before the vacation court, Justice V Lakshminarayanan admitted the plea and issued notice to the defendants. Notices have been issued to Aashirvad Cinemas (producer of the movie), director Jeethu Joseph and Panorama Studio, which has acquired the worldwide theatrical and digital rights of the movie. The...

'Ilaiyaraaja Had No Copyright Over En Iniya Pon Nilave ': Delhi HC Dismisses Appeal Against Single-Bench Order

The Delhi High Court has dismissed music composer Ilaiyaraaja's appeal against a single-judge order that had, at an interim stage, recognised Saregama India Limited's rights over the classic Tamil song En Iniya Pon Nilave from the 1980 film Moodu Pani. A Division Bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla pronounced the judgment on Thursday."However, Ilaiyaraaja was not the owner of copyright in the sound recording, or the lyrics underlying the disputed song. His...

'Left No Stone Unturned To Harass': Delhi HC On IT Dept's Delay In Releasing KVPs, IVPs

The Delhi High Court has pulled up the Income Tax Department for delaying the release of seized Kisan Vikas Patras (KVPs) and Indira Vikas Patras (IVPs) even after the assessee deposited the settlement amount, observing that the authorities had “left no stone unturned to harass” the petitioner.A division bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Om Prakash Shukla directed the tax authorities to compensate the petitioners for loss of interest caused due to wrongful retention of the instruments.The case...

Company's Car, Telephone Costs Not 'Personal' Despite Being Separate Legal Entity: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that telephone and car expenses incurred by a company cannot be disallowed as “personal” expenses merely because a company is treated as a separate legal person.A division bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinod Kumar allowed the company's appeal and set aside an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), which had upheld disallowance of one-sixth of the company's telephone and car expenses on the ground of possible personal use.The company argued that...