- Case number
- (T)CMA(PT) No.198 of 2023
- Court
- Madras High Court
- Date of judgment
- Judge
- Abdul Quddhose
- Outcome
- Remanded
Headnote
Refusal of a cryptography application under section 3(k) quashed as a non-speaking order and for breach of natural justice. One of the grounds given was the adoption of a business method, which was supported by no reasoning and, more seriously, had never been mentioned in the hearing notice, so the applicant had no chance to answer it. On the other ground, the adoption of algorithms, the Controller failed to engage with the applicant's case that the invention is not a set of rules and so is not an algorithm within the definition in the 2017 Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions. The exceptions in the Indian and European guidelines on which the applicant relied, including that exclusions may not apply to inventions resulting in systems for encrypting or decrypting electronic communications, were not considered at all.
Headnote by BRB Legal, written from the judgment: a summary for reference, not legal advice. Read the judgment itself before relying on it.