Abolishing the IPAB solved one problem and created another: a tribunal’s entire docket landing on High Courts that had no dedicated machinery for it. Delhi’s answer was to build the machinery — the first Intellectual Property Division in the country.
The background
The Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021 was promulgated and notified on 4 April 2021. It amended several IP statutes, abolished various boards and tribunals including the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, and vested the power to deal with pending and fresh matters formerly within their jurisdiction in the appropriate High Courts.
The Division
To streamline the handling of IP disputes, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice D.N. Patel, constituted a two-member committee. Acting on its recommendations, the Delhi High Court announced by press release on 7 July 2021 the creation of an Intellectual Property Division (IPD) to deal with all IP matters.
This was the first such division created by any High Court in India.
What it covers
Per the press note, the IPD would be governed by comprehensive rules then being framed. Beyond original proceedings, the IPD would also hear writ petitions (civil), CMM, RFA and FAO matters relating to IP disputes — excluding cases falling to a Division Bench under the Commercial Courts Act.
IPD benches would be notified from time to time by the Chief Justice, and exclusive IPD benches could be created for handling particular matters effectively. An office order followed, listing the directions with an annexure setting out the nomenclature for filing different categories of cases before the IPD and the court fees payable.
Why it mattered
The object was to avoid multiplicity of proceedings and reduce the possibility of conflicting decisions on the same trademarks or patents — though the possibility of conflicting judgments between different High Courts remains, and is not something a single division can solve.
Given that the IPAB had been, for various reasons, largely dysfunctional for several years, closing it and transferring its cases to the High Courts was a step in the right direction. Navigating it was always going to be demanding, the concept of an IPD being new to India — but it was a significant step towards efficient and speedy disposal of IP matters, particularly given the uneven functioning of the Trade Marks Registry in examination and prosecution.
The hope expressed at the time was that other High Courts would follow.
They did. The Delhi High Court notified its IPD Rules in 2022, giving the division a settled procedural framework, and other High Courts — Madras among them — have since constituted their own IP divisions. The IPD model is now the established structure for handling IP disputes in the High Courts that have adopted it, and the Delhi IPD in particular has produced a substantial body of IP jurisprudence in the years since.
The takeaways
- The IPAB was abolished by the Tribunals Reforms Ordinance in April 2021.
- Delhi created the first IPD on 7 July 2021, on committee recommendations.
- It hears original proceedings and writs, RFAs and FAOs in IP matters.
- Other High Courts have followed — the IPD is now the established model.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to the IPAB? It was abolished by the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021, notified on 4 April 2021, with its jurisdiction transferred to the High Courts.
What is the Intellectual Property Division? A dedicated division of the Delhi High Court, created in July 2021, that hears all categories of intellectual property matters including those transferred from the IPAB.
Was Delhi the only High Court to create one? It was the first. Other High Courts, including Madras, have since constituted their own IP divisions.
What does the IPD hear? Original IP proceedings along with writ petitions, CMM, RFA and FAO matters relating to IP, other than cases that go before a Division Bench under the Commercial Courts Act.