Delhi High Court has held that where the applicant of the patent application had responded to the first as well as the second examination report, the application cannot be stated to be abandoned. Relying on earlier ruling of the court in the case of Telefonaktiebolaget, it was held that application can be stated to be abandoned only in cases where the applicant fails and neglects to pursue its application. It was noted that in this case, the petitioner had provided explanations in respect of objections raised in the examination reports and decision thereon could not be avoided taking recourse to Section 21(1) but speaking order should have been passed under Section 15 of the Patents Act, 1970.
Further, the court in this regard in its order dated 29-9-2014 noted that provisions of Section 21(1) have to be read harmoniously with the provisions of Section 15, which is possible if they are considered to operate in distinct and separate circumstances.