Facts:

• Puneet Kaushik (Appellant) submitted a Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) application to the Indian Patents Office on 14.09.2012, enclosing Form-25 and relevant documents. They stated that this constituted a valid submission for an international filing date.
• The Union of India (Respondent), had asserted that the submission did not constitute a valid PCT application but rather an application seeking permission for filing outside India under Section 39 of the Patent Act, 1970.
• The dispute had arisen as the Indian Patents Office had refused to accept the Appellants' submission as a PCT application, citing separate procedures for processing PCT applications and Form-25 requests. The Respondents had argued that a resident of India cannot file an application outside India without prior permission, leading to the disagreement between the parties.
• The case was filed before the learned Single Judge, who issued a ruling in favor of the respondent. Aggrieved by the decision of Learned Single judge the Appellants filed an appeal before the Division Bench of Delhi High Court.

Background/Procedural Posture:

This appeal challenges the order dated 23.09.2013 passed by a Learned Single Judge in W.P.(C)1631/2013. The writ petition was disposed of with a direction to the Respondents to grant 27.09.2012 as the international filing date in respect of the PCT application submitted by the Petitioners to the Indian Patent Office on 14.09.2012 and assign an international number to the said application, subject to certain conditions.

Main Issues:

Whether a PCT application filed in the Indian Patent Office be considered an application made 'outside India' according to Section 39 of the Patents Act, 1970?