Madras High Court Warns Against Mechanical Notices, Orders Decision On 14-Year-Old Cancer Drug Patent

The Madras High Court on 12 February observed that the Intellectual Property Office cannot mechanically issue notices or summons whenever pre-grant patent oppositions are received, warning that such an approach makes it “very easy to defeat the rights” of patent applicants. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh issued directions in a case involving a 14-year-old patent application filed by Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. for a cancer drug. Noting that by “postponing the same for one reason and the other”...

Calcutta High Court Sets Aside Rejection Of UPL's Herbicide Patent For Denying Mandatory Hearing

The Calcutta High Court has recently set aside an order of the Controller of Patents rejecting UPL Limited's patent application for a herbicidal combination, holding that the authority committed a “serious procedural infirmity” by denying the company a mandatory hearing under Section 14 of the Patents Act and improperly issuing a composite order in examination and pre-grant opposition proceedings. Allowing the appeal, Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur ruled that examination proceedings under Sections...

Supreme Court Allows Product-To-Claim Mapping In Nivolumab Patent Dispute Between ER Squibb and Zydus

The Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a special leave petition filed by E.R. Squibb and Sons LLC against Zydus Lifesciences Ltd in a patent dispute over the anti-cancer immunotherapy drug Nivolumab, arising from a January 12 judgment of the Delhi High Court's Division Bench.A Bench of the Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that since Zydus had already marketed its product and it was readily available in the market, the petitioners would be at liberty to undertake a...

Calcutta High Court Sets Aside Patent Office Order Rejecting TopoTarget's Cancer Drug Patent Application

The Calcutta High Court has set aside a Patent Office order rejecting a cancer drug patent filed by TopoTarget UK Limited, observing that the decision was taken without a proper and independent assessment of the invention.A Single Judge Bench of Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur, in a judgment dated January 30, 2026, allowed TopoTarget's appeal and quashed an order dated November 29, 2019, passed by the Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs, Kolkata.The impugned order had rejected the patent...

Delhi High Court Upholds Injunction Over Mold-Tek's Tamper-Evident Packaging Patents

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld an interim injunction against Neway Industries over alleged infringement of Mold-Tek Packaging Limited's tamper-evident packaging patents and revived interim relief in respect of a second patent.A Division Bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla, in a judgment delivered on January 28, 2026, dismissed Neway's appeal challenging the grant of injunction over Mold-Tek's patent IN'417, while allowing Mold-Tek's appeal against the...

Delhi High Court Upholds Injunction Barring Canva's 'Present and Record' Feature In India

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld an interim injunction barring Canva from offering its “Present and Record” feature in India. Canva operates a widely used online graphic design and content creation platform. The court rejected the platform's appeal against the Single Judge's July 18, 2023, order passed in favour of RxPrism Health Systems Private LimitedA Division Bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla pronounced the judgment on January 28, 2026, dismissing...

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...