In a major reprieve for Colgate-Palmolive, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has set aside an order of the Delhi-based Assistant Controller of Patents and Design, which had rejected the patent application by the company for an oral care implement.
The IPAB has also sent the patent case, the company has been fighting with Hindustan Unilever, to the Delhi patent office for a fresh look. Colgate-Palmolive already holds a patent for the oral care implement in the US. An oral care implement includes a releasable sensory material that invokes a sensory response when in contact with tissues or the surfaces of a mouth of a user.
The IPAB bench asked the patent office to dispose the matter in six months. The order by IPAB was on an appeal filed by Colgate-Palmolive against the order of the assistant controller of patents and design, on December 23, 2009, which rejected the Indian patent application of the company following HUL opposition.
Colgate-Palmolive had filed the patent application for an oral care implement with 40 claims on May 24, 2007, and on August 27, 2008, the first examination report was received by the company. Subsequently, on August 13, 2009, a reply was filed by Colgate-Palmolive to the first examination report with amended claims.