Patent Working Information not Confidential, Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court recently passed a detailed order stating that patent working information cannot be termed as “confidential” and that submitting the same by patentees is compulsory..The order came in a writ petition filed by Prof (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer in 2015, which had pointed out serious lapses and violations of the provision with regard to filing of patent working documents (commonly referred to as Form 27 filings) by patentees..Appearing for the petitioner, Advocates Abhimanyu Bhandari and Sai Vinod contended that the grant of patents results in the patentees getting exclusive rights over inventions and therefore, it is imperative that the Controller General maintains a scrutiny as to whether the patent is being worked or not. It was argued,.“To ensure that the patentees have not merely acquired rights over the invention and are actually working the same, the statutory scheme requires a patentee to submit periodic information.”.It was brought to the notice of the Court that as per the government’s Annual Report for the year 2012-13, over 30 per cent of the patentees had not submitted the F-27 documents and that no action had been initiated by the Controller General..Several instances of lapses by companies – including the likes of NATCO Pharma and Ericsson – with regard to filing of patent working documents under Section 146 of the Patents Act, were submitted..The Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar observed that,.“All that the patentees submitting Form-27 are required to submit the details of the licenses and sub-licenses. This information certainly cannot be termed “confidential” and therefore, the Patents Office has to treat such suppression as failure to comply with the requirements of Section 146 of the Patents Act, 1970 arid to take action against the patentees who do not furnish the required information.”.The Court noted that the petition had been pending since 2015, and that it does not have any information as to whether there is any change in the status with regard to the filing of returns under Section 146, or whether any action has been taken by the Controller General of Patents and Designs under Section 122..The Court granted time to Central Government Standing Counsel Amit Mahajan to inform the Court about the status of the amendment of the rules and the action taken under Section 122..The matter will be next heard on January 18.