Hear Trident's plea afresh: Delhi HC to Patent Office

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the Controller of Patents to reconsider Ludhiana-based textile manufacturer Trident's application for patents covering its air-rich yarn and fabric products, along with their manufacturing processes.

The court set aside a 2021 order that rejected Trident's application for lack of inventive step. Justice Tejas Karia directed that the matter be heard afresh by a different Controller within six months, on its merits and without being influenced by the court's observations.

"The decision of the Controller that there are no special measures adopted to achieve uniform radial distribution of fibres in the yarn cross-section cannot be accepted without addressing the exemplary manufacturing parameters used by the appellant," Justice Karia said in the November 11 order, uploaded Thursday.


The court said the Controller's reasoning that Trident failed to suggest any special measures to achieve uniform radial fibre distribution "cannot be accepted."

Trident argued that the patents relate to novel air-rich yarns and fabrics with pores throughout the cross-section, offering higher wettability, faster drying and better absorption. The company said its terry fabrics can absorb 75-100% of water on contact and dry 10-30% faster than normal fabric. It also pointed out that corresponding patents had been granted by the US Patent Office and the European Patent Office.

The Controller defended the earlier refusal, saying Trident provided no quantitative data to substantiate its claim of "homogeneous distribution," calling it a qualitative hypothesis unsupported by experimental validation and contrary to established blending principles.