The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Need for Intellectual Property Rights Bench stressed

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Sunday, Dec 02, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Need for Intellectual Property Rights Bench stressed

Special Correspondent

In most High Courts, such matters are not being given preference, says A.P. Shah

“There has been a phenomenal change in how sovereign States exercise legislative powers and react to international obligations”

— Photo: S.S. Kumar

EXPRESSING THEIR VIEWS: Kazuo Minagawa, Consul-General of Japan in Chennai (left), Justice A.P. Shah, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, R. Veeramani, president, Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Justice S. Jagadeesan, former Chairman, Intellectual Property Rights Appellate Tribunal, at a seminar in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: In view of the increasing number and complexity of Intellectual Property Rights litigations, there is a need for a special bench, comprising judges who have particular expertise in the subject, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court A.P. Shah said here on Saturday.

Mr. Justice Shah said in most High Courts, IPR matters were not given preference. It was necessary to develop an IPR Bench in the High Court with judges familiar with IPR law.

“It is my desire that any interim application [in an IPR litigation] should not last more than six months, and the appeal arising out of it should also be decided within six months. An IPR litigation should come to an end within a year. Unless this time frame is observed, rights of the people will be completely lost,” he told a gathering of lawyers and corporate executives at a seminar organised by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Balance sought

Mr. Justice Shah said there was a need for courts to “strike a balance” between public welfare and private interest.

“IPR must be protected to give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of creators and to the rights of the public in accessing those creations.”

As the trend to globalise and liberalise continued, Mr. Shah said there had been a “phenomenal change” in how sovereign States exercised legislative powers and reacted to international obligations. “Lawmakers… are no more governed only by the need of our nation. Law-makers today are influenced by the need to bring the laws in shape with the international conventions and agreements to which India is a party.”

Justice Chitra Venkataraman cautioned that the application of patent laws and international agreements should not lose sight of greater social well being. “TRIPS [Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights] need a modality by which there is a compulsion on participating countries to use inventions for mankind’s well-being.”

Around 95 per cent of patents worldwide were owned by corporations and individuals in developed countries. “There is a need for a mechanism to regulate the rights of holders of IPR,” Ms. Venkataraman added. “While on the one hand we need to promote research and development, its fruits must reach the far corners of the world.”

Heavy backlog

Justice S. Jagadeesan, former chairman of the IPR Appellate Tribunal, said procedural difficulties in the administration of IPR had led to heavy backlog.

“The biggest challenge for us is the examination of patent applications. We have a shortage of properly trained staff… Trained experts, scientists and engineers do not consider working for the government as salaries are far behind the private sector.”

Senior advocate Arvind P. Datar said a special IPR Bench would be a sign of things to come.

“As technology becomes more complex, judges also need to be more specialised to deal with these cases.”

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