Author name: Bharathwaj Ramakrishnan

Bharathwaj is an IP lawyer with a keen interest in reading and writing about Intellectual Property Law. You can reach out to me at bharathwajramakrishnan [at] gmail.com

Design Law Reforms: Searching for Justifications

/ By / Design

Long post ahead! DPIIT on 23rd January 2026 had put out a concept note titled “Proposed Amendments to the Designs Act, 2000” and has invited comments from stakeholders, with the last day for submitting comments being 22nd February 2026. Some reforms are substantive, affecting the scope of design law. While others are administrative, intended to smooth out the difficulties that design applicants face. This post would be a quick analysis of some of the reforms being suggested. The reforms I […]

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InPASS New Feature Update: Download Final Granted Patent Specifications with Ease! 

/ By / Patent

Patent professionals and researchers would know the pain of correctly identifying the final granted claims for an invention. Previously, one had to examine the written submissions and the amendments made by the applicant, along with the controller’s order, to identify the final granted claims post-examination. One can only imagine how difficult the same exercise would be for someone unfamiliar with Patent Office procedures and patent law in general.  To address this pain point and improve legibility of patent documents, the

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When Orders don’t Speak: Analysing Tapas Chatterjee vs Controller 

/ By / Patent

Image from here The recent judgment of the Division Bench in Tapas Chatterjee v. Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs (Tapas) had caught the headlines for taking the Indian Patent Office (IPO) to task for issuing an unreasoned order or in the words of the Court a ‘laconic’ order (‘Laconic’ means –using or involving the use of a minimum of words: concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious).  The word itself has an interesting etymology tracing its origins

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Why we should stop using the word ‘technical’ 

/ By / Patent

Thanks to Swaraj and Yogesh, conversations with whom on this very ‘technical’ topic served as an inspiration for this piece. I know that the title sounds radical, but hear me out. There has been a flurry of cases in recent times discussing the scope of Section 3(k). All of these cases have, at various instances, come up with different tests/formulations that have one thing in common: the word ‘technical’ appended to the front. This form of technicalism, or the utilisation

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Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud! – Analysing  Ab Initio Technology LLC v. Controller of Patents

/ By / Patent

Slightly long post…… The Madras High Court (MHC) has called a spade a spade. In Ab Initio Technology LLC v. Controller of Patents, MHC recognised and attempted to clarify the confusion surrounding Section 3(k). At various instances, we have highlighted that Section 3(k) jurisprudence has been plagued by terminological confusion, leading to fragmentation of jurisprudence and thus producing a cacophony of tests. It is admirable that MHC, for the first time, recognised the confusion surrounding Section 3(k) and some of

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Can You Revoke an Expired Patent? Delhi High Court to Answer Soon

/ By / Others, Patent

The Division Bench (DB) of the Delhi High Court (DHC) has issued an order, observing prima facie, that a revocation petition against a patent whose statutory term has expired is not maintainable. DB has also appointed Senior Advocate Swathi Sukumar as amicus to assist the Court on this issue. This prima facie observation contradicts the position of the  Single Bench of DHC in Macleods Pharmaceuticals Ltd v. The Controller of Patents (previously covered here), which had concluded that a revocation

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Delhi High Court Risdiplam DB Judgement: A Few More Thoughts

/ By / Innovation, Others, Patent

Image from here [The post is co-authored with Praharsh Gour with research assistance from Vikram Nanda.] The Delhi High Court’s recent Risdiplam DB judgement refused to interfere with the Single Judge’s order rejecting Roche’s interim injunction application against Natco. It was alleged by the Swiss Pharma manufacturer that Natco infringed its Risdiplam patent- IN 334397 (Suit Patent). The decision, passed by a bench comprising Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Ajay Digpaul, will enable access to affordable orphan drugs for

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GUI and IP: Here, There and Everywhere!

/ By / Copyright, Design, Others, Overlaps in IP, Patent

Image from here The Calcutta High Court (CalHC) seems poised to resolve the issue of registrability of GUI under the Designs Act (Act) once and for all. In a recent order in Erbe Elektromedizin GmbH v. Controller of Patents (Erbe, IPDAID/22/2024), CalHC has appointed Adv. Adarsh Ramanujan as amicus curiae to assist the Court on a matter, which seems to involve questions on the registrability of GUI under the Designs Act (See Adarsh’s post). This comes at a time when

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Copyright Ma(r)ximalism! 

/ By / Copyright, Others

This post is prompted by a new very provocative and ‘spicy’ article written by Benjamin Sobel for the Chicago-Kent Law Review titled “Copyright Accelerationism” (a brief summary). This paper, if I could summarise in a line or two (to the extent of being very reductionist), states that Copyright maximalism is not that bad. That it should be applied across the board to all, machines and humans equally, without fear or favour nor ill will. That if applied to its full

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Sci-Hub now Completely Blocked in India!

/ By / Copyright

Image from here, screenshot taken before the website was taken down via Court order As readers of this blog know, the story of Sci-Hub, Libgen and other shadow libraries is a never-ending tale that has now reached a possible injunctive end. In an order dated 19/08/2025 written by Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, issued the following directions: 26.1 The defendant no. 12 [i.e., DoT] and the defendant no. 13 [i.e., MeitY] are directed to issue a notification calling upon the

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