Delhi HC slaps Google with Rs 1 lakh fine. Find out why

The Delhi High Court dismissed Google's appeal challenging the Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs' decision to reject its patent application titled ‘Managing Instant Messaging Sessions on Multiple Devices’ (Google LLC v. The Controller of Patents).

The court imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on Google for providing inaccurate information and failing to disclose details about the European Patent Office's rejection of the patent application.

The Court observed that despite Google's assertion that its patent application before the EPO was abandoned, evidence indicated that it was actually rejected due to a lack of inventive step.

The court observed that "in light of the submission regarding the abandonment of the EPO application and the rejection of both applications under the corresponding EU patent, including a divisional application, for lack of inventive step, costs in the current appeal are likely to be imposed," Justice Prathiba M Singh said. It was noted that the appellant in this appeal not only presented inaccurate information to the court but also neglected to disclose the refusal of both the EU parent application and the subsequent divisional application.

The patent being reviewed aimed to introduce a function enabling the simultaneous transfer of instant messaging sessions across multiple devices, enabling users to seamlessly continue conversations on various platforms.

Additionally, the patent offered users the ability to specify their preference for their instant messaging sessions not to be replicated or mirrored during periods of inactivity, such as when they are idle or unavailable on the messaging application.