Second roundtable on feasibility of establishing a national IP court in India

A second roundtable conference on the feasibility of establishing a single national IP court in India was organised by IIT Kharagpur in December 2016.  The 2^nd roundtable, co-chaired by sitting Calcutta High Court Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Soumen Sen, was held 8 months after the first, and was predominantly to understand the opinions of the industry on this issue.   

Representatives from industry observed that the problem with IP litigation was not so much absence of judicial fora, but the requirement of technical, specialised expertise when deciding IP (particularly patent) matters.

Whereas IIT Kharagpur proposed the option of establishing a single specialist IP High Court at the appellate level to decide IP matters; the co-Chairmen and roundtable participants found establishing specialist IP Benches in existing High Courts more helpful.  They suggested starting with High Courts where IP litigation was heavy.

The roundtables were organised under a project that is being implemented by IIT Kharagpur, supported by the UK Intellectual Property Office.

IIT Kharagpur is in the process of finalising their findings and recommendations.  So there will be more on this soon!