Delhi High Court dismisses six pharma patent petitions; asks companies to approach patents body first

摘要

The Delhi High Court has sought to put an end to the trend among pharmaceutical companies to take patent-litigation directly to court without first approaching the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), constituted to address such complaints. Justice S. Mu-ralidhar recently dismissed six petitions involving drug majors Eli Lilly, Ran-baxy, Cipla, UCB Farchim and Teva's research arm, Yeda, against rejection of patents for drugs by the country's patent office. He asked the companies to file complaints with the IPAB within two weeks.