David vs Goliath: PSU promotes patent violation

Apart from telling them how IOC is violating its patent, Standipack’s owner and holder of the patent Kamal Meattle has also pointed out that if Indian companies violate patents of fellow-Indians, how foreigners can be expected to respect Indian patents. "This is a test case as far as India’s stand on patents is concerned, and will be watched by various countries who are concerned about our record here," addsMeattle.

Standipack also holds patents for this pouch in countries such as the US (patent no. 5401546) and Europe (patent no. 0515745).

Standipack managed to secure an interim injunction against the UK-based Castrol for violating its patent by using other pillow pouches for packaging its "Castrol Scootex" brand of oil. This was delivered on April 21 by the district court in Ambala. Interestingly, HPCL also floated a tender for pillow pouches a few days ago, but is likely to keep this in abeyance since Standipack has advised them that this is violative of their patent.

In April 1997, Standipack gave a similar warning to Bharat Petroleum when it came out with a similar tender — following this, BPCL decided not to go ahead.

Relations between IOC and Standipack began souring in 1995 when IOC filed a case in the Delhi High Court asking for a revocation of Standipack’s patent. Last December, IOC placed trial orders on two companies, Flex Industries of Noida (UP) and Prasad Polypack of Madras. Followingthis, it came out with a tender for 364.5 lakh pillow pouches with specifications similar to Standipack’s as far as the materials being used as well as the structure of the multi-layered plastic pouch — this is where the issue of patent violation comes in.

When The Indian Express contacted IOC, its corporate communication’s office — IOC chief M.A. Pathan chose not to communicate on the matter directly — said that they had, along with Flex and others, developed their own packs which were not violative of Standipack’s patent. Interestingly, IOC has not got any patent so far for this "new" pouch — nor has the court ruled in IOC’s favour so far.

IOC’s tender specifications may also be less stringent than what is actually required. While a technical committee of the Ministry of Petroleum had examined various pillow pouches of six companies in 1989, it had stated that of all the designs and materials submitted, Standipack’s was the only one which met the specifications. More important, it laid downcertain criterion for testing pouches. And this is what IOC has decided to flout. The committee had stated that any new pouch must be tested for 4 months under what are called "accelerated" conditions — temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius and relative humidities of 95%.