[Ip-health] Novartis Update 3.4.07

[chan park]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]

The Indian Government issued a notification yesterday declaring that the pr=
ovision in the Patents (Amendment) Act (section 117G), that provides that a=
ll pending appeals in the High Court shall be transferred to the Appellate =
Board set up under the Act, shall be made effective as of 2 April 2007.


The text of section 117G states:


"All cases of appeals against any order or decision of the Controller and a=
ll cases pertaining to revocation of patent other than on a counter-claim i=
n a suit for infringement and rectification of register pending before any =
High Court, shall be transferred to the Appellate Board from such date as m=
ay be notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette and the Ap=
pellate Board may proceed with the matter either de novo or from the stage =
it was so transferred."


The Additional Solicitor General, VT Gopalan, brought this notification to =
the Court's attention, claiming that the Court was thereby divested of juri=
sdiction over the Patent Controller's Order.


Shanti Bhushan, however, took the position that under the plain language of=
 section 117G, the transfer of all pending cases to the Appellate Board was=
 not self-executing, and required a further notification from the Central G=
overnment, after section 117G came into effect, to transfer all pending cas=
es.


Due to the uncertainty in the exact operation of the Government's notificat=
ion, the Court asked Gopalan to seek instruction from the Government as to =
how it wants to proceed.


The matter will resume tomorrow on this issue.


In solidarity,

Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

Anand
Chan
Julie
Prathibha




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