- Case number
- C.A.(COMM.IPD-PAT) 403/2022
- Court
- Delhi High Court
- Date of judgment
- Judge
- Saurabh Banerjee C. A
- Outcome
- Remanded
Headnote
Refusal of an absorbable iron-based alloy implant application set aside for want of a recognised inventive step methodology. The Court took the five-step test laid down by the Division Bench in Hoffmann-La Roche v. Cipla, which the Manual of Patent Office Practice and Procedure, 2019 itself reiterates, and walked the impugned order through each step. The Controller referred to the person skilled in the art repeatedly but never identified who that person was; correctly identified the inventive concept and the differences from the prior art; but at the final step assumed that substituting zinc was predictable without probing whether the specific configuration claimed produced a non-obvious technical advantage or unexpected result. The order therefore lacked proper methodology and sufficient scientific reasoning and gave a scattered analysis. An order of the Controller must be scientifically reasoned, application of mind and a recorded reasoned decision being basic elements of natural justice.
Headnote by BRB Legal, written from the judgment: a summary for reference, not legal advice. Read the judgment itself before relying on it.