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Informist, Monday, Apr. 27, 2026

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Monday said it would examine whether a petition to revoke a patent would stay "maintainable" even if the duration of the patent on a product had ended. The apex court issued notices to the Controller of Patents and Macleods Pharmaceuticals Ltd. on Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma Gmbh and Co. KG's appeal against a Delhi High Court's Feb. 24 order and listed the case for final hearing.

Rejecting Boehringer Ingelheim's plea, the high court had on Feb. 24 upheld the maintainability of Macleods Pharma's revocation petition for the former's patent on pharmaceutical product Linagliptin. The high court held that a revocation petition can be instituted even after the other party has raised arguments on Section 107 of the Patents Act, 1970 in an infringement suit. The expiry of a patent, during the pendency of an infringement suit, merely changes the goal post, said the high court. The plaintiff retains the right to claim damages for infringement which took place during the life of the patent, and the defendant, too, therefore, has every right to, by way of a counter-claim or a revocation petition as he may choose, seek revocation of the patent "ab initio", the high court had added.

In 2022, Macleods Pharma had filed a plea before the Delhi High Court seeking revocation of Boehringer Ingelheim's patent on Linagliptin, an oral inhibitor used to manage type-II diabetes by increasing insulin release and lowering glucagon levels. Thereafter, Boehringer had filed a suit in the Himachal Pradesh High Court alleging that Macleods had infringed its patent and sought injunctive relief against the latter.

Boehringer Ingelheim argued that its patent had expired on Aug. 18, 2023, by the efflux of time, therefore, the revocation petition did not survive for further consideration, as such proceedings could not be instituted once the patent of which termination was sought had expired. Boehringer Ingelheim alleged that having taken a defence of invalidity of patent under Section 107 of the 1970 Act in the Himachal Pradesh High Court, Macleods Pharma could not continue to maintain a revocation petition. Macleods Pharma said that a revocation petition, if it succeeded, would result in revocation of the patent in its entirety, as though the patent had never existed on the register of patents and the entire patent would stand removed from the register.  End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Ashish Shirke

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