Article
Plant variety protection – Procedural infirmities, not impacting eligibility of applicant/application for registration, are not fatal
By Harshita Agarwal and Vindhya S Mani
The Division Bench of the Delhi High Court has set aside the Single Bench’s order which had affirmed the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers' Rights Authority’s order of revocation of registration. The registration was earlier set aside due to alleged furnishing of incorrect information relating to the date of first commercial sale as well as the purported failure to present requisite information at the time of applying for registration. The article in this issue of IPR Amicus elaborately discusses in this regard the facts of the case including the analysis and findings of the Division Bench. The authors observe that the Division Bench essentially held that procedural infirmities, which have no impact on the eligibility of the applicant to apply for a plant variety application or on the eligibility of the application for registration, are not fatal to the registration unless such infirmities are due to willful misrepresentation or to gain any undue advantage. According to the authors, this view is consistent with the general judicial trend to consider procedural lapses or infirmities based on its impact on the substantive merits of the matter.
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