JUDGMENT

The appellant filed Application No. 4135/CHEN/2014 titled “Stable Herbicidal Composition comprising Pendimethalin and Metribuzin” at the Indian Patent Office (IPO) , Chennai, on 25th August 2014. A request for examination was filed on 27th September 2017. Pursuant thereto, the First Examination Report (FER) was issued by the IPO on 22nd July 2019. In the FER, the first respondent raised objections, inter alia, on the grounds that claims 1 to 6, as originally filed, lacked novelty and inventive step in view of three cited documents, namely:

• D1: AU760278B2 ;

• D2: AU2012203353B2 ; and

• D3: O.B HILDEBRAND: Proceedings of the Ninth Australian Weeds Conference, Adelaide, South Australia, August 6–10, 1990.

Objections were also raised on the ground of non-patentability under Section 3(d) and Section 3(e) of the Patents Act , 1970 (“the Patents Act ”). The appellant replied to the FER on 21st January 2020 along with a copy of the amended claims and specifications.

2. Meanwhile, an opposition was filed by the second respondent on 10th September 2019, challenging the claims under Sections 25 (1)(b) to 25(1)(f) of the Patents Act . The pleadings and evidence in relation to the opposit