Enercon GmBH claims IPAB voided 12 patents on grounds of ‘national interest’; MIPR provides us with copy of the Order

In an interesting development this morning we were pointed to the latest issue of ‘Wind-Power Monthly‘, a trade magazine covering the ‘wind-power’ sector in Germany and other jurisdictions. A lawyer for Enercon GmBH, the losing party in the recent decision of the IPAB, which voided 12 of its patents (we’ve blogged about it over here), has made a statement to the ‘Wind Power Monthly’ stating that the IPAB has allegedly decided the issue on the basis of ‘national interest’.

I reproduce the relevant quote below – Enercon lawyer Stefan Knottnerus-Meyer said: “The IPAB decisions were partly based on the argument that India’s national interest has priority over patent rights. With this argument, almost every patent could be declared void in the name of India’s development interests.”

Thanks to Mr. Deepak Kapoor and Nikhil Krishnamurthy, at the Manupatra Intellectual Property Review (MIPR) we finally have a copy of one, of the 12, orders passed by the IPAB in the Enercon matter. The order is available on our website over here (Its 8 MB!). Hopefully the remaining 11 orders will be available in the next issue of MIPR.

I’ve briefly scanned the contents of the one order with us and it seems to be a fairly dispassionate order, grounded in patent law. The IPAB has found the impugned patent to be obvious in light of the prior art presented by the petitioner. Unlike its prior Novartis order, the IPAB does not seem to have invoked the grounds of ‘national interest’ or ‘public interest’. It is therefore extremely perplexing as to why exactly Enercon GmBH’s lawyers are claiming that the matter was decided in ‘national interest’. Such a serious misrepresentation of a judicial order could be construed as contempt of court unless of course there is something in the remaining 11 orders that we are unaware of. Perhaps not?