JUDGMENT :

(Through Video Conferencing)

NITIN JAMDAR, J. :— Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Respondents waive service. Taken up for hearing by consent of the parties.

2. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board allowed the appeal filed by respondent No. 4-Pfizer Products Inc and set aside the order passed by the Controller of Patent and Designs refusing to grant the patent as applied for to respondent No. 4. The Appellate Board directed the Controller to issue patent to respondent No. 4-Pfizer. The petitioner has filed this petition making a grievance that the order was passed without giving an opportunity to the petitioner of being heard regarding his pre-grant opposition.

3. A brief overview of the statutory scheme governing the pre-grant opposition under the patent law would place the facts of the case and the arguments in a better context.

4. The Patent Act was enacted in the year 1970 to amend the law relating to patents in India. The earlier law was enacted in the year 1911, and there were substantial changes in the political and economic conditions of the country, and therefore a comprehensive law was brought in. The Act has undergone amendments in the year 2002 and 2005.