Inventions directed solely towards algorithms or computer programs per se are not patentable under Indian law, as they do not demonstrate a technical effect beyond algorithmic logic.

JUDGMENT

Table of Contents A. Background ................................................................................................................... 2 B. Submissions ................................................................................................................... 6 B1. Submissions of the Appellant .................................................................................... 6 B2. Submissions of the Respondent ............................................................................... 10 C. Analysis and Findings ................................................................................................. 11 C1. Prologue ................................................................................................................. 11 C2. Claim Construction ................................................................................................ 12 C3. Assessment of the Refusal Order ............................................................................ 19 C4. Is the technical contribution of the subject patent is merely a sequence of instructions? .................................................................................................................. 21 C5. Whether the substance of the subject patent is directed towards algorithmic processes? ..................................................................................................................... 27 D. Conclusion and Directions ......................................................................................... 37 Prathiba M. Singh, J.

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

A. Background

2. The present appeal under Section 117A of the Patents Act, 1970 (hereinafter ‘the Act’) was originally filed by the Appellant- BlackBerry Limited before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (hereinafter, ‘IPAB’) in the year 2020. Vide order dated 6th March, 2020, notice was issued by the IPAB in the present appeal. Thereafter, consequent upon the abolition of the IPAB and, upon the enactment of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, the present appeal stood transferred to this Court.

3. The Appellant is a corporation organised under the laws of Ontario, Canada, specializing in providing telecommunication products, services, and solutions. These include enterprise software, Internet of Things (IoT), network infrastructure, and other associated services. The Appellant was originally known as Research In Motion (RIM) and is widely known as the former developer of the BlackBerry brand of smartphones and tablets as also the messaging app BlackBerry Messenger, commonly referred to as ‘BBM’. The Appellant claims that its products are used worldwide by various businesses, automobile makers, and government agencies.

4. The present appeal relates to the subject patent application titled “Administration of Wireless Systems”. The subject patent application bearing Application Number 1762/DEL/2008 was filed on 25th July, 2008, with ten (10) Claims, as a Convention Application, claiming priority from three US patent applications. The earliest priority date of the subject patent application is 27th July, 2007. Thereafter, the subject patent application published as per Section 11 of the Act on 6th March, 2009. The Bibliographic details of the subject patent application are set out below:

5. The Appellant filed a Request for Examination for the subject patent application on 19th November, 2008. In response to the same, initially, the Indian Patent Office (‘IPO’) issued a First Examination Report (‘FER’) dated 28th December, 2015 raising objections of redundancy of Cla