- Court
- Calcutta High Court
- Date of judgment
- Judge
- I. P. Mukerji
- Outcome
- Set aside
Headnote
Appeal allowed, the refusal of an interim injunction set aside as perverse, and the respondents restrained from dealing with the plant variety PAN 804 including its seeds until disposal of the suit. Section 28 of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act confers an unconditional exclusive right on the registered breeder, and the validity of that registration cannot be tested in a civil court but only by the Registrar or the authority under the Act. Where infringement is alleged and invalidity pleaded, the court must take the registration as valid; at most it may adjourn the suit, though never an interim application, to let the defendant pursue cancellation diligently. Registration of a variety covers propagating material including seed under sections 2(r) and 2(za). Allowing the respondents to file some 1,500 pages against the interim application without giving the appellant a chance to answer them violated 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.