New Delhi: All pending patent and trademark cases, on which final hearing has been held, are set to be disposed of by the end of March this year, as the patent office has set the month as a deadline for the clearance of such cases.

In a move to expedite the patent and trademarks granting process, the controller general of patents, designs and trade marks (CGPDTM) has fixed 31 March as the last date to liquidate backlog of pending cases.

“From 1 April, 2009, there shall not be any cases pending for orders for more than three months on post grant cases and month in cases of pre-grant cases after the final hearing,” CGPDTM P H Kurian has said in a circular to all concerned authorities.

At present, a number of opposition cases both under pre-grant and post-grant are pending for disposal after final hearing with joint, deputy and assistant controllers leading to complaints by aggrieved persons.

“It is not in public interest to keep such orders pending for unreasonable period. Such delay would affect the quality of orders,” P.H. Kurian, an IAS officer, who assumed charge as CGPDT last month, said.

Though the all-India numbers of the pending cases were not disclosed, but an official said that in Delhi alone there are roughly 154 cases.