The Court was dealing with an appeal challenging an order passed by the Deputy Controller of Patents and Design on April 12, 2023.
By this order, the Deputy Controller had cancelled a design registration earlier granted in India to the appellant for a certain kind of air-cooler.
The Deputy Controller had passed the order after a Chinese company, Ningbo Chenwu Humidifying Equipment Factory, claimed that it had registered similar designs for the air cooler in China before the Indian design registration was granted.
The High Court, however, set aside the Deputy Controller’s decision on finding that the authority did not properly deal with the question of whether there was prior publication.
The Court found that the Deputy Controller only relied on a Certificate of Registration and a snapshot from the China National Intellectual Property Authority (CNIPA) website to hold that there was prior publication.
“(The Deputy Controller) failed to consider the authenticity or admissibility of such evidence and verify the same. Merely showing such designs on a foreign unverified website does not amount to prior publication,” the Court observed.
There must cogent evidence to show publication of the design had been made available to the public, the Court emphasised.
“The impugned order has been passed without any consideration of this aspect of the matter … The power to cancel a registered designed is a draconian power and ought not to be exercised in a casual and cavalier manner,” the Court added.
Source: Barandbench
