No intra-court appeal against single-judge decision on patent appeal: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has ruled that an intra-court appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent is not maintainable against a judgment passed by a single judge Bench on appeal under the Patents Act, 1970 [ITALFARMACO SPA Vs Deputy Controller of Patents and Design]..A Division Bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice C Kumarappan held that once a statutory appeal under Section 117A of the Patents Act has been decided by a single judge of the High Court, no further appeal can be filed before a Division Bench under the Commercial Courts Act or the Letters Patent. "Any expansion of scope of the Commercial Courts Act will defeat its objectives and there is no ambiguity regarding appeals from decrees of Commercial Courts and Commercial Divisions under Section 13 of the said Act. There is no scope to invoke Clause 15 of Letters Patent for the purpose of entertaining the present Original Side Appeal," the Court held. .The case arose from the rejection of a patent application filed by an Italian pharma company, Italfarmaco SpA. The Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs in India has rejected the patent application under Section 15 of the Patents Act. The company challenged this decision before the Madras High Court under Section 117A, but the appeal was dismissed by a single judge Bench. Italfarmaco then attempted to file an intra-court appeal before the Commercial Appellate Division of the High Court. However, the High Court Registry raised an objection on maintainability, which the Division Bench upheld on December 12.Dismissing the appeal at the threshold, the Court held that allowing such intra-court appeals would amount to expanding the scope of the Commercial Courts Act beyond what the law permits..The Court made it clear that in the absence of any provision for intra-Court appeal, no appeal would lie.Explaining the legal position, the Bench held that the Commercial Courts Act is a special enactment which overrides the Letters Patent.“The Commercial Courts Act is a special enactment and would prevail over the Letters Patent,” the Court observed.Referring to Section 13 of the Commercial Courts Act, the Bench emphasised that appellate remedies in commercial disputes are strictly limited..Applying the law to the facts of the case, the Court noted that the Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs' decision to reject the patent application had already been challenged under Section 117A of the Patents Act. This appeal was decided by a single judge of the High Court. Once that statutory appeal was exhausted, no further appeal lay before the High Court.“There is no scope to invoke Clause 15 of Letters Patent for the purpose of entertaining the present Original Side Appeal,” the Bench concluded while dismissing the plea..Italfarmaco was represented by Advocate Arun C Mohan..The Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs was represented by Central Government Standing Counsel S Diwakar..[Read Judgment].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.