Delhi High Court publishes draft ‘Delhi High Court Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules,­ 2021

The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi recently notified the draft “Delhi High Court Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules, 2021” (DHC-IPD Rules, 2021). This development is subsequent to the formation of the Intellectual Property Division in the High Court of Delhi pursuant to the scrapping of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) by the Government of India under the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021, and consequential transfer of a substantial number of pending cases to the High Court of Delhi.

The draft rules were framed and submitted by a committee comprising of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Sanjeev Narula. The Intellectual Property Division would particularly deal with the Writ Petitions (Civil), First Appeal from Order (FAO), Regular First Appeal (RFA), Civil Revision Petition (CRP), original proceedings, etc., arising out of IPR disputes (the scope of which has been expanded from the now-abolished IPAB), except those matters that need to be dealt with by a Division Bench of the High Court.

The draft rules contain 31 rules and two schedules, as well as few interesting incorporations such as the formation of a panel of experts and law researchers with the objective of aiding and assisting the court in various matters. Additionally, the draft rules also recommend the inclusion of new techniques for recordal of evidence (such as hot-tubbing), etc. The draft rules have been published for comments and suggestions from the members of the Bar within a period of 2 weeks from its publication.