After a gap of nearly two years, the Chennai bench of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has started hearing cases, much to the relief of the industry.
Justice Manmohan Singh took the additional charge as Chairman of Chennai-headquartered IPAB from January 1, 2018. Prior to Mr. Singh’s appointment, IPAB was without a regular chairman for over 19 months, leading to significant backlog of cases.
According to official sources, about 630 cases (relating to patents, trademarks and Geographical indication) are pending in the Chennai Bench alone.
Mr. Singh and Sanjeev Kumar Chaswal, Technical Member (Trade Marks), sat for hearing in the Chennai bench on Monday, as intellectual property attorneys queued up with their cases. As many as 142 cases mainly for admission and some withdrawal petitions were listed for hearing on Monday and Tuesday.
Intellectual property lawyers were relieved that the hearing resumed. “It is a major relief that the hearing has resumed. But we hope the appointments for other technical members and vice chairman are also made, so that there is speedy hearing,” R. Sathish Kumar, a city-based lawyer said.
