[This post is authored by Md. Sabeeh Ahmad. His previous posts can be accessed here.]
The Himachal Pradesh High Court seems to be the latest addition to the list of Courts with a separate IPR Division, as it has notified its Intellectual Property Rights Division Rules, 2022. Turns out that the Rules have been out for a while now and were notified on July 8, 2024. This makes HP High Court 4th after Delhi High Court, Madras High Court, and Calcutta High Court to have dedicated IPD Rules. Interestingly the latest roster dated September 25, 2024, does not mention an IPD bench. The Rules, after a detailed read, seem exactly the same as the Delhi HC IPD Rules except for the required substitutions (such as Civil High Court of Himachal Pradesh Original Side Rules, 1997).
Readers can see our posts (here, here and here) for the Delhi HC IPD Rules. Recently, the Calcutta HC also notified its IPR Division Rules (here) and a new roster (here) that created specialised benches for IP matters.
For those who may not know, Himachal Pradesh has been an important place for the pharmaceutical industry in India and houses 6 percent of the country’s total pharma clusters. The state also offers extensive concessions to attract investments in the pharmaceutical sector and grants subsidies on capital invested in infrastructure among other subsidies and benefits (see here for the Industrial Investment Policy of the State). In fact, recently the government had announced its plan to establish a Bulk Drug Park accompanied by subsidies on land and electricity to attract more investments. With the government’s plan to further Himachal Pradesh’s reputation as a bigger pharma hub, chances are we’ll also witness rising patent and pharmaceutical trademark disputes, among others, in the state, making it a hotspot for IP disputes in the future. [Sidenote: In fact the Himachal Pradesh High Court is already under spotlight for passing some eye catching orders (see here).]
This leaves Bombay as the high court with original civil jurisdiction that doesn’t yet have IPD rules. And it seems like Karnataka HC may have something brewing soon too, as it has already formed a sub-committee for drafting their IPD Rules.