Specialized appellate board for patent appeals

The establishment of a specialized court and tribunal for intellectual property rights cases has been in demand since India’s accession to the World Trade Organization and the opening up of the Indian economy to international trade.

To begin with, the government proposed the constitution of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) to transfer all the appeals pending in various high courts against the orders of the Registrar of Trademarks and Controller of Patents.

The formation of IPAB was aimed at achieving twin fold objectives, one to reduce the burden of the High Courts and the other to provide for focused and specialized adjudication of IP appeal matters.

The government’s proposal achieved strength when the new Trade Marks Act, 1999, came in the Statute Book.

Abhai Pandey is a lawyer with Lex ORBIS IP Practice, a firm specializing in intellectual property with offices in New Delhi.