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Patent Law Declared by the Supreme Court of India

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Title Patent Law Declared by the Supreme Court of India
 
Creator Raza, Aqa
Alam, Ghayur
 
Subject Patent
Supreme Court of India
Law Declared
The Indian Patents and Designs Act
1911
The Patents Act
1970
Bench
Article 141
Constitution of India
Intended Meaning
Constructed Meaning
Constituent Assembly Debate
Infringement
Revocation
License
Pre-grant Opposition
Exclusive Marketing Rights
Interpretation-Construction
Counter-claims
Controller of Patents
 
Description 46-67
The Supreme Court of India (hereinafter, the Supreme Court) does not merely decide a lis in personam but also
declares the law on a question that it decides to answer. The law so declared by the Supreme Court becomes binding in rem
by virtue of Article 141 of the Constitution of India. Since the establishment of the Supreme Court, only three cases were
decided in the 20th century on The Patents Act, 1970 including one under The Patents and Designs Act, 1911, and in 21st
century only eleven cases have been decided under The Patents Act. Number of decisions per year is not even one. On an
average, the Court has decided, 19 cases in a year; or one patent case in 1893.57 days, or in 5.18 years. Hence, only few
questions of patent law have been answered. Many patent law questions still remain unanswered. This raises a two-fold
problem. One, answers are not only too little but some of them are too ambiguous, too opaque and too vague. Two, absence
of answer on certain basic points of patent law further heightens the problem of legal uncertainty and opacity. A review of
decisions on the patent law reveals that: (i) the Court has declared patent law only in ten decisions; (ii) in no decision the
validity of The Patents Act, 1970, was challenged; (iii) the Court has unanimously answered the questions of patent law; and
(iv) only some of the questions of patent law have been answered by the Supreme Court unambiguously and unequivocally
but some of the questions of patent law have been left open by the Court. This Paper identifies the intended and interpretedconstructed
meaning of ‘Law Declared’ and seeks to cull out the principles of patent law as declared by the Supreme Court
in the last 72 years.
 
Date 2023-04-24T10:48:29Z
2023-04-24T10:48:29Z
2023-01
 
Type Article
 
Identifier 0975-1076 (Online); 0971-7544 (Print)
http://nopr.niscpr.res.in/handle/123456789/61783
https://doi.org/10.56042/jipr.v28i1.543
 
Language en
 
Publisher NIScPR-CSIR, India
 
Source JIPR Vol.28(1) [January 2023]