PATENT
Delhi High Court Revives ITC's Challenge To Philip Morris's Non-Tobacco Nicotine Patent
The Delhi High Court has revived ITC Limited's challenge to a Philip Morris patent covering a non-tobacco nicotine product after setting aside a 2024 Patent Office order that had rejected ITC's opposition.In a judgment dated January 12, 2026, Justice Jyoti Singh allowed an appeal filed by ITC, holding that the impugned order suffered from a lack of independent application of mind and was largely a verbatim reproduction of the patentee's submissions and the recommendations of the Opposition...
Delhi High Court Sets Aside Rejection Of Comforter System Patent, Orders Fresh Review
The Delhi High Court has set aside a Patent Office order rejecting a patent application filed by Jesal Vimal Jetha for a therapeutic comforter system, holding that the refusal suffered from procedural infirmities and violation of principles of natural justice for non-consideration of applicant's responses to subsequent objections raised by Patent Office.Justice Tushar Rao Gedela delivered the judgment on January 23, 2026, while allowing an appeal against a 2020 order by which the Patent Office...
Delhi High Court Awards ₹81 Lakh to Merck, Sun Pharma In Diabetes Drug Patent Infringement Case
The Delhi High Court on Friday awarded over Rs 81 lakh in damages and costs to US-based pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. and its Indian licensee, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., in a patent infringement suit concerning the anti-diabetic drug Sitagliptin and its pharmaceutical combinations.In a judgment dated January 23, 2026, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela decreed the suit in favour of the pharmaceutical companies, holding that unauthorized manufacture and export of the...
Delhi High Court Refuses To Lift Interim Injunction On Mobile Brick-Making Machines In Patent Dispute
The Delhi High Court has refused to lift an interim injunction in a patent dispute over mobile brick-making machines, holding that while the rival machines are not identical, they appear to share the core patented concept of making and laying bricks as the machine moves.A Division Bench of Justice Dinesh Mehta and Justice Vimal Kumar Yadav pronounced the judgment on January 16, 2026, dismissing an appeal filed by Choudhary against a 2024 interim order passed in favour of SNPC, a Haryana-based...
Email Service Of Patent Examination Report Valid, Postal Service Not Mandatory: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has upheld the rejection of a patent application on the ground of abandonment, ruling that service of the First Examination Report (FER) through email constitutes valid service under the Patents Act, 1970, and that postal service is not mandatory.In an order passed on January 19, 2026, Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur dismissed a writ petition challenging the abandonment of a patent application titled “Herbal Anti-Venom against Catfish Sting,” holding that the Patents Act and...
Delhi High Court Upholds Rejection of Japanese Firm's Patent Bid For Worm-Based Cancer Detection
The Delhi High Court has upheld the rejection of a patent application for a cancer detection technique that relies on the smell responses of worms, holding that it is a non-patentable diagnostic method under Indian law. In a judgment delivered on January 17, 2026, a Single-Judge Bench of Justice Tejas Karia dismissed the appeal filed by Hirotsu Bio Science Inc., holding that the company's cancer detection method amounts to a diagnostic process barred from patent protection under Section...
Bioreactor Invention Involving Human Embryonic Stem Cells Not Patentable: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has upheld the Patent Office's refusal to grant a patent to US-based biotechnology company Viacyte Inc., holding that the claimed bioreactor invention was primarily directed at biological material, including human embryonic stem cell-derived aggregates and therefore fell within non-patentable subject matter under the Patents Act, 1970.In a judgment dated January 16, 2026, a Single-Judge Bench of Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur, affirming the decision of the Deputy Controller...
Patent Opposition Board Recommendations Are Advisory, Not Binding Decision: Madras High Court
The Madras High Court has refused to step in midway in a patent dispute over a cancer drug, holding that a recommendation made by the Opposition Board during post-grant opposition proceedings is only advisory and does not create anu valid binding rights. Dismissing the writ petition filed by two foreign pharma firms, Justice N. Senthilkumar said the patent holders must place all their objections before the Controller of Patents, who alone takes the final call.The court was hearing a...
Madras High Court Upholds Grant Of Virtual Agent Patent To US Company, Dismisses Flipkart's Challenge
The Madras High Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Patent Office's rejection of Flipkart's post-grant opposition, allowing a US company's patent on virtual agents used in online customer interactions to continue.In an order dated January 5, 2026, Justice N. Senthilkumar refused to interfere with the decision of the Patent Office, which had dismissed Flipkart's post-grant opposition and allowed the patent titled “Systems and Methods for Virtual Agents to Help Customers and Business” to...
Delhi High Court Lifts Injunction, Allows Zydus To Manufacture And Market Lifesaving Cancer Drug
The Delhi High Court on Monday cleared Zydus Lifesciences Limited to manufacture and market its cancer drug ZRC 3276. The court set aside an injunction that had barred the drug's launch over alleged patent infringement of a medicine owned by US-based pharmaceutical major E.R. Squibb. A Division Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla modified an earlier order passed by a single judge. The Bench held that Zydus could not be restrained from launching a life-saving...
Madras High Court Allows US Inventor's Late Patent Examination Request Despite Indian Agent's Error
The Madras High Court has directed the Indian Patent Office to accept and process a request for examination filed by a US-based inventor, holding that a patent application cannot be treated as abandoned due to an inadvertent mistake by a patent agent. The court ruled that in the absence of any intention to give up the invention, such procedural lapses should not defeat substantive rights. Justice N Anand Venkatesh passed the order on December 18, 2025, while disposing of a writ petition filed...
Delhi High Court Stays Order Against Indian Firm Making Irrigation Valves In Patent Dispute With Israel Company
The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed an order that had restrained an Indian irrigation equipment maker from selling its “Hydromat Valve”, which was earlier held to prima facie infringe a patent owned by an Israel-based company. A Division Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla pronounced the judgment on January 5, 2026, while deciding an appeal filed by Automat Irrigation.Staying the earlier order dated August 1, 2025 on a interim plea filed by Aquestia Limited, the...