FMC Corporation & Ors. V. Natco Pharma Limited, FAO(OS) (COMM) 301/2022
A division bench of the Delhi High Court dismissed an appeal filed by FMC Corporation and held that the respondent, Natco Pharma Limited’s insecticide containing Chlorantraniliprole (“CTPR”) does not infringe FMC Corporation’s patent for a process to prepare CTPR. The product patent IN’307 in respect of CTPR and the process patent IN’332 had expired on August 13, 2022. The examination in the suit was limited to infringement of the suit patent IN’645, which is a process patent.
On the basis of doctrine of equivalence, the FMC Corporation claimed that Natco’s process infringes the suit patent. The division bench while dismissing the appeal, observed that the doctrine of equivalence must be applied to each element of the process and awarded cost of INR two lakhs seventy thousand (2,70,000) to the respondent, Natco Pharma Limited.