Delhi High Court rejects BlackBerry patent claim on colour-coded messaging

The Delhi High Court on Thursday rejected BlackBerry Limited’s patent claim over a colour-coded messaging feature, holding that the invention is not patentable under Indian law [BlackBerry Limited Vs Controller of Patents].

Justice Tejas Karia dismissed BlackBerry’s appeal against the Controller of Patents and Designs' rejection of its 2008 patent application.

The patent application related to a method of assigning colours to/ colour coding message recipients on handheld mobile devices. The feature aimed to help users identify recipients before sending messages.

However, the Court said the feature lacked an inventive step, which is crucial to claim patent rights over an invention. It noted that earlier technologies already allowed the categorisation of messages and alerts to users. Using colour coding for messages was an obvious extension of an already prevalent feature, the Court observed.

The Court also held that the invention is not patentable under Section 3(k) of the Indian Patents Act. It said the colour coding feature was merely a software-based method of presenting information, and does not improve the hardware or system performance of the device.

It examined the prior art (already existing inventions) in detail as well. One system grouped messages based on attributes like source or category. Another alerted users with a list of recipients before sending a message. A third disclosed visual differentiation of messages using colours. Taken together, the Court held that Blackberry's colour coding feature was obvious and, therefore, not eligible to be patented.

The Court further rejected BlackBerry’s argument that the invention solved a technical problem. The Court pointed out that errors in choosing recipients are human errors, not technical problems.

The said that computer-related inventions must show a clear technical effect and that Blackberry's invention did not meet that standard.

"Even after the present invention is implemented, the sender still may commit an error, if the recipients having the same name are more in number. For example, if the recipients having same name are five in number, the user shall have to remember the all five different colours corresponding to five different recipients. In this case, the sender still may commit the same error, if failed to remember the assigned colours," the Court added.

The appeal was, therefore, dismissed the refusal accept Blackberry's patent claim was upheld.

BlackBerry was represented by advocates Pravin Anand, Ashutosh Upadhyaya and Sandeep Bhola from Anand & Anand.

The Controller of Patents and Designs was represented by Central Government Standing Counsel PS Singh along with advocates Rajneesh Kumar Sharma, Minakshi Singh, Ashutosh Bharti and Shivangi Sharma.

[Read Judgment]