Rs 1 Lakh Fine: Delhi High Court’s Verdict Against Google

In a ruling by the Delhi High Court, Google was fined Rs one lakh for misrepresentation and failure to disclose pertinent information regarding the rejection of a patent by the European Patent Office (EPO).

Justice Prathiba M Singh upheld the decision of the Assistant Controller of Patent and Design to reject Google’s patent application. The application in question pertained to the management of instant messaging sessions across multiple devices.

The court observed that Google’s application lacked inventive steps, despite the company’s assertion that it had been abandoned before the EPO. Justice Singh noted the dismissal of both the original EU application and its divisional counterpart due to a deficiency in inventive merit. Consequently, the court deemed it appropriate to levy costs against Google.

In addition to misrepresenting facts to the court, Google failed to disclose the rejection of both the parent EU application and the subsequent divisional application.

Google’s patent application was turned down by the Assistant Controller of Patent and Design on the grounds of lacking inventive steps. Following this, Google contested the decision before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), which was subsequently dissolved, leading to the case being transferred to the High Court.

The High Court upheld the decision of the Controller, emphasizing the absence of inventive steps in Google’s proposed innovation. The ruling concluded that the application did not meet the criteria for patent grant due to its lack of inventive merit.

In summary, despite Google’s arguments, the court found the patent application unsuitable for approval owing to its dearth of inventive merit, thereby dismissing the appeal.