Delhi High Court To Union Govt: Need To Have A Relook At Patents Law Provision On Exclusion In view Of Growing Innovations

The Delhi High Court in the case Opentv Inc v. The Controller Of Patents And Designs And Anr observed and has stated that there being a need to re-look at Section 3(k) of the Patents Act, 1970 with regards to growing invention. It has been stated under Section 3(k) that a mathematical or business method or computer programe per se or algorithms shall be excluded from patentability under the Patents Act.
The bench headed by Justice Prathiba M Singh in the case observed and has took a note of the 161st Report of the ‘review of the Intellectual Property Rights Regime in India’ which is being presented by the Parliamentary Standing Committee and has stated that the concerns expressed that a large number of inventions may be excluded from patentability as stated under Section 3(k).
The court in the case stated that the modification of the said provision would be in context of the said report clearly be one in legislative domain. Therefore, in terms of the statute as it stands, business method inventions are not patentable.
Furtehr, the court observed that there being a large number of inventions in emerging technologies including small and medium-sized enterprises, the start-ups and the educational institutions could be in the field of business methods or the application of computing and digital technologies.
The bench headed by Justice Singh in the case observed and has stated that being a need to have a re-look at the exclusions in Section 3(k) of the Patents Act, 1970, in relation to the rowing innovations in this space. As it has been recommended in the Parliamentar Committee Report referred to above that the need for considering the march of technology in the digital space, is an urgent one, so that patent law is not outpaced and patenting itself does not become irrelevant in the years to come.
The court in the case observed and has stated that the copy of the order be sent to the Secretary, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry for necessary consideration.
The court in the case made the observations while dismissing the appeal moved by a USA based entity, OpenTV Inc, wherein it challenged the order passed by Controller of Patents and Designs on 31.05.2021, wherein the court refused its application for grant of patent titled System and method to provide gift media as stated under Section 15 of Patents Act.
The court stated that the patent application being for the network architecture to enable the exchange of interactive media content distribution of any type of digital or tangible media. Therefore, the court in the case rejected the