Madras HC Acting Chief Justice Inaugurates Intellectual Property Rights Division

The Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice T Raja recently inaugurated the Court’s Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPD).

Justice M Sundar, Justice Abdul Quddhose, and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, all members of the High Court IPR Committee, stated that the newly constituted IPR Division Rules are now in effect as of April 5, 2023.

According to Justice Sundar, the chairperson of the Committee, also said that the creation of the Madras High Court IPD and the formulation of the IPR Division Rules will speed up adjudication, particularly for those appellants who have been waiting for their cases to be listed ever since the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) was abolished.

The High Court released a gazette notification of its IPD Rules, 2022, on April 5 2023.

Following the repeal of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in April 2021 by the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021, the IPD was created as a specialized division with the exclusive purpose of hearing cases involving intellectual property rights. Any cases that were pending before the IPAB were thereafter supposed to be moved to the appropriate High Courts as a result of this ordinance.

The Trade Marks Act, 1999; the Copyright Act, 1957; the Patents Act, 1970; the Designs Act, 2000; the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999; the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001; and the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Design Act, 2000 are the statutes that will be dealt with by the IPDD for the purposes of the Rules.