In light of the recent orders by the Delhi High Court to resolve the problems caused by the Trademark Registry websites’ outage, we are pleased to bring to you this post by SpicyIP Intern Aarav Gupta, discussing the interim measures put in place by the Court. Aarav is a third-year law student at National Law University, Delhi. He is passionate about geopolitics, foreign policy, international trade, and intellectual property and spends his time reading and watching sports. His previous post can be accessed here.
An End to IP Attorneys Association’s Struggle with the Trade Mark Registry’s Portal?
By Aarav Gupta
The matter that has been pending for a long time is the difficulties that people face in accessing the e-Register/Trade Mark Registry Portal due to outages that occurred during the last several months. Against these issues, the Intellectual Property Attorney Association filed a writ before the Delhi High Court seeking suspension of a few deadlines till the services of the Registry’s website were resumed. Tejaswini previously reported that technical issues have caused the portal to be unavailable, preventing users from using it for their necessary functions, such as payments, filing, and searching. Following much controversy around the issue (for instance see here), the services were eventually brought back, albeit intermittently. Earlier, the Court had directed the Controller General or any other senior officers that the Controller General may depute, to appear and explain potential solutions to the technical issues, along with a summary of the problems that have come up in the Intellectual Property Association’s understanding during the last few months. Consequently, as recorded in the recent order dated March 22 the Joint Controller of Patents & Designs, Head of Office, IT Office (CGPDTM), Ms. Rekha Vijayam, and Dr. Suneeta Betgeri, Dy. Controller (Patents & Designs) appeared before the Court. They said that these outages were occasionally unavoidable since the Registry is switching from its old system to a new cloud-based one. They informed the Court that the Controller General’s Office began notifying the public in advance whenever the portal was anticipated to be unavailable. As a result, the deadlines for filing, searching, and making payments were also extended to compensate for the outage.
Considering the above, the Court held that given the portal serves as the sole window, method, and search engine for filing and making payments in all of the country, users must be granted a fair amount of time to access the system after the outage has ended. During the recent hearing on March 20, 2024, it was also noted that the ongoing outage is scheduled to commence from 7:00 a.m. on March 22, 2024, until 7:00 a.m. on March 28, 2024. The corresponding deadlines have been extended through a public notice issued on March 15, 2024, now concluding on March 29, 2024, at 11:30 p.m., totaling approximately 40 hours. The petitioner’s legal representatives have advised the Court that due to the system’s anticipated four to five-day downtime, there is expected to be a surge in activity on March 28, 2024, once the system is back online. This surge might lead to system congestion and inconvenience for users.
It was submitted by the Officers that the switch to the new system will be completed by the end of this month, or at most, by the first half of the next month. Taking into account the above assurance and to resolve this issue in the interim period, the Court mandated the following procedures be used to ensure that users are not inconvenienced and have enough time to access the system for their needs:
I. If technical issues cause the e-Register/Trade Mark Registry Portal to become unavailable, the public may be notified in advance at least two days before the planned outage;
II. Timelines that are impacted by the outage will then be appropriately extended for the same number of hours that the system will be unavailable as a result of the outage; for example, if 40 hours of downtime are announced, an extension of 40 hours will be granted instead of the outage;
III. With regard to the outage that was previously announced and will occur between March 22 and March 28, 2024, the guidelines in paragraph II above must be followed. This will be accomplished by sending a new public notice by March 23, 2024.
IV. Under the administrative jurisdiction of the CGPDTM office, all e-services about Trade Marks, including any scheduled hearings, will be rescheduled by the e-register/Trade Mark Registry Portal’s activation date.
The Court’s orders strike a compromise between maintaining procedural fairness and user convenience and the necessity for system changes. These rules offer a foundation for clear communication, fair user treatment, and the efficient operation of crucial trademark-related services. With the new system scheduled to go live shortly, hopefully, these guidelines will help ensure a smooth and uneventful transfer for all parties concerned.
