JUDGMENT

The appellant herein, having been refused to have its Computer Related Invention [CRI] patented by the Patent Office under Sec.3(k) of the Patents Act, 1970, has approached this Court with this appeal. The appellant's invention is titled 'Delegating Instant Messaging Sessions'. In its application, the appellant has made as many as 20 claims. In the operative portion of the impugned order of the respondent, it is stated that "these programs do not have further technical effect going beyond the "normal" interactions between the program and the general purpose hardware".

2.1 Heard both sides. The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that as per Sec.3(k), any invention which has 'a mathematical or business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms' are not the inventions capable of being patented. The learned counsel submitted that the Patent Office has initially brought its guidelines for examination of computer related inventions, wherein it required not only novelty in the software, but also in the hardware for a software to be patented. This was later revised by the Patent Office in its Revised Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions, 2017