Judgment

S.H. Kapadia, J. —

1.Leave granted.

2.For the sake of convenience we refer to the facts mentioned in Civil Appeal No. 5184 of 2008 (arising out of S.L.P. (C) No.15729 of 2008) filed by J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd.

3.This matter is a classic illustration of the confusion which has emerged on account of the postponement of in-part commencement of Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005.

4.Quite often the commencement of an Act is postponed to some specified future date or to such date as the Appropriate Government may, by Notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. Provision is also at times made for appointment of different dates for coming into force of different parts of the same Act. This is what has exactly happened in this case resulting into utter confusion with regard to pending FAO No.293/06 filed by respondent No.3 in the High Court under Section 116 of the Indian Patents Act, 1970 as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999 w.e.f. 26.3.99.

5.Span Diagnostics Limited, respondent No.3 herein, is a public limited company established in 1972 to indigenously develop and manufacture a comprehensive range of ready-made diagnostic reagents made by clinical pathology laboratories. On