Delhi High Court - Orders
Ax Wireless Llc vs Vivo Mobile Communication Co. Ltd. & Ors on 7 May, 2025
Author: Amit Bansal
Bench: Amit Bansal
$~34
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS(COMM) 417/2025 with I.A. 11411-11418/2025
AX WIRELESS LLC .....Plaintiff
Through: Mr. Pravin Anand, Ms. Vaishali R.
Mittal, Mr. Siddhant Chamola, Ms.
Pallavi Bhatnagar, Ms. Gitanjali
Sharma and Mr. Jitesh P. Gupta,
Advocates.
versus
VIVO MOBILE COMMUNICATION
CO. LTD. & ORS. .....Defendants
Through: Mr. Saikrishna Rajagopal, Ms. Julien
George, Mr. Aniruddh Bhatia, Mr.
Avijit Kumar, Ms. Subhoshree Sil,
Ms. N. Parvati and Ms. Alka Bisht,
Advocates.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT BANSAL
ORDER
% 07.05.2025 I.A. 11415/2025 (u/O-XI Rule 1(4) of the CPC)
1. The present application has been filed on behalf of the plaintiff seeking leave to file additional documents under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015.
2. The plaintiff is permitted to file additional documents in accordance with the provisions of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018.
3. Accordingly, the application is disposed of.
CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 1 of 9This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43 I.A. 11416/2025 (seeking exemption from filing clearer/ certified/ translated/ typed copies of documents, etc.)
4. Allowed, subject to the plaintiff filing clearer/ certified/ translated/ typed copies of documents and documents with proper margin within four (4) weeks from today.
5. The plaintiff is exempted from filing the originals at this stage.
6. The applications stand disposed of.
I.A. 11417/2025 (seeking leave to file confidential documents physically in a sealed cover and separately with electronic encryption and password protection)
7. By way of this application, the plaintiff seeks certain direction from this Court with regard to filing of confidential documents which are as follows:
a. Entire confidential correspondence exchanged between the parties, with respect to the negotiations concerning the FRAND license agreement in an unredacted manner including the offers and counter- offers;
b. Economic reports prepared by the plaintiff in respect of its offers; c. Confidential affidavit relating to the correspondence between the parties.
8. To maintain confidentiality of the aforesaid documents, the plaintiff has proposed the following steps:
a. With respect to the physical filing, to make available to this Court and the defendants' counsel, the aforesaid unredacted documents in a sealed cover;
b. With respect to electronic filing, to file the aforesaid unredacted documents in encrypted and password protected form in a CD/ pen CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 2 of 9 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43 drive. The plaintiff shall provide the password to access the said documents to this Court and to the defendants' counsel; c. The defendants' counsel and representatives, upon receipt of the said documents, shall maintain confidentiality thereof in terms of existing contractual non-disclosure obligations and shall not share the said confidential documents with any third-party entity; d. The documents be kept under the protective seal of this Court and be kept separately from the non-confidential documents, pleadings and applications filed by parties in the present proceedings; e. Once the present suit is disposed of, the aforesaid confidential documents be returned to the plaintiff's counsel.
9. With the consent of counsel for the parties, the following directions are passed:
i. The plaintiff shall make available to this Court and the defendants confidential documents specified in paragraph no.7 hereinabove, in accordance with the terms specified in paragraph no.8 hereinabove.
ii. All persons having access to the aforesaid confidential documents are directed to maintain their confidentiality in accordance with the terms specified in paragraph no.8 hereinabove. iii. The plaintiff is permitted to file redacted version of the documents specified in paragraph no.7 hereinabove.
10. Accordingly, the application stands disposed of. I.A. 11418/2025 (seeking leave to file certain documents in a compact disc/ pen drive)
11. This application has been filed by the plaintiff seeking leave to file CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 3 of 9 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43 certain documents in a compact disc/ pen drive.
12. For the reasons stated in the application, the plaintiff is permitted to file documents pertaining to the full versions of the Technical Specifications of the Wi-Fi 6 Standard in a pen drive.
13. The application stands disposed of.
I.A. 11413/2025 (u/O-XI Rule 2 of the CPC)
14. This application has been filed on behalf of the plaintiff seeking discovery by way of interrogatories under Order XI Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (hereinafter 'CPC').
15. The following directions are issued in respect of the questions annexed to the present application:
i. Insofar as question no.1 (details of licenses of the defendants and their affiliates with respect to the Wi-Fi 6 standard) and question no.2(i) (duration of manufacture and sale of devices by the defendants in India) are concerned, the same shall be answered and such answers shall be provided to counsel for the plaintiff.
ii. Insofar as question no.2(ii) to 2(v) (number of units sold and exported, revenues of sales and revenues of export by the defendants) and question no.3 (average net selling price for Wi-Fi 6 compliant devices and separate figures for models specified in the question) are concerned, the requisite details shall be placed before the Court in a sealed cover. The Court shall peruse the said details and take a decision at the appropriate stage as to whether the same are to be disclosed to the plaintiff or not.
16. Accordingly, the application stands disposed of. I.A. 11414/2025 (u/O-II Rule 2 of the CPC) CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 4 of 9 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43
17. This application has been filed on behalf of the plaintiff seeking leave to add or amend claims as prayed for in the plaint at an appropriate stage of the proceedings.
18. The present suit has been filed seeking permanent injunction restraining the infringement of the plaintiff's right in patents, which are claimed to be standards essential to the Wi-Fi 6, i.e., IEEE 802.11ax standard. The suit relates to patents no. IN 471974 and IN 504232. The case of the plaintiff is that apart from the aforesaid patents, there may be various other patents, which would be infringed by the defendants. The aforesaid patents are merely representative patents as the plaintiff's portfolio is very large. Further, the devices which have been impugned in the present suit are mentioned in paragraph no.6 of the present application as 6(a) to (k). The same are set out below:
a. VIVO X100 b. VIVO T4x 5G c. VIVO X100 Pro d. iQOO Neo 10R e. iQOO 13 f. VIVO X200 Ultra g. VIVO v40 Pro h. VIVO 14X i. IQOO 9S j. VIVO 300 Pro + k. VIVO X Fold 3 Pro
19. The plaintiff suspects that there would be various other devices which would also be infringing.
CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 5 of 9This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43
20. This Court had an occasion to consider a similar issue in CS(COMM) 304/2021 titled Nokia Technologies OY v. Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. & Ors.
21. In this application, the plaintiff, inter alia, seeks leave to add further patents from its portfolio in respect of which infringement may occur in the future and also seeks leave to add new devices which may be infringing. The present application seeks the following reliefs:
"a. Grant leave to the Plaintiff to add to or amend claims as prayed for in the plaint filed in the present proceedings, including a claim for infringement of additional patents held by the Plaintiff which are found to be infringed by the Defendants' devices at a later stage in the proceedings;
b. Grant leave to the Plaintiff to amend its claim for infringement of patents by including any additional or particular device(s) manufactured and/or sold by the Defendants which are found to be infringing at a later stage in the proceedings;
c. Grant leave to the Plaintiff to enhance its claim for damages at a later stage in the present proceedings;
d. Grant leave to the Plaintiff to amend the plaint, and include claims for infringement of any additional granted claim(s) of the suit patents IN 471974 and IN 504232 which are found to be infringed by the Defendants' devices;"
22. A perusal of the prayers extracted above shows that the plaintiff is seeking leave of this Court to reserve rights in respect of the following:
a) Addition of claim for infringement of additional claims of the suit patents.
b) Addition of further patents which may be found to be infringing by the defendants as per the plaintiff.
c) Addition of further devices/ models which may be found to be infringing, that may already be in existence or that may be launched by the defendants in future.CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 6 of 9
This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43
23. In patent infringement suits, this Court notices that suits are filed on the basis of the claims/ patents asserted in respect of devices that may be readily available on which testing is done to check infringement. During pendency of the present suit, the defendant may launch new models or the plaintiff may realize that further patents or claims are also infringed. However, in every such case, filing of fresh suits or moving amendment applications under Order VI Rule 17 of the CPC would delay and complicate the adjudication of the suit. There is, therefore, a need to give some flexibility in terms of addition of new devices/ models which may be found infringing by the plaintiff qua the suit patent in the existing suit itself. The said need is felt by the Court considering the nature of a patent infringement suit where the suit is filed based upon certain patents, which are asserted qua certain devices which may be found to be infringing in order to avoid multiplicity of proceedings.
24. Accordingly, insofar as the assertion of additional claims or adding of further devices/ models qua the suit patents are concerned, the plaintiff is given liberty to assert the same by means of a separate affidavit which may be filed by the plaintiff with test reports, if any, prior to framing of issues. If the issues have already been framed in the suit, then the same may be asserted by means of affidavit in evidence, which may be filed by the plaintiff. In response to such an affidavit of the plaintiff, the defendants would be given liberty to rebut the same at the appropriate stage.
25. Insofar as addition of further patents is concerned, if the plaintiff wishes to assert infringement of other patents, a fresh suit would have to be filed by the plaintiff. However, the plaintiff would be at liberty to pray for consolidation at the appropriate stage.
CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 7 of 9This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43
26. Accordingly, the present application is disposed of with the direction that the plaintiff is at liberty to avail of its remedies in accordance with law in respect of any additional patents, which it may wish to assert against the defendants. As far as addition of model/ devices that are found to be infringing the suit patents is concerned, the plaintiff is at liberty to file an affidavit in accordance with the directions issued above, adding the said models/ devices or asserting additional claims qua the suit patents, in the present suit itself.
27. Both the parties have no objection to the above directions being passed.
28. Accordingly, the application stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms. CS(COMM) 417/2025/2025 and I.A. 11411/2025/2024 (under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 CPC) and I.A. 11412/2025 (seeking pro tem security)
29. Let the plaint be registered as a suit.
30. Issue summons in the suit and notice in the captioned applications.
31. Mr. Saikrishna Rajagopal, Advocate accepts summons in the suit and notice in the captioned applications on behalf of the defendants and waives issuance of formal summons.
32. Written statement(s) to the suit and reply(ies) to the captioned applications shall be filed by the defendants within thirty (30) days from today. Along with the written statement(s), the defendants shall also file affidavit(s) of admission/ denial of the documents of the plaintiff, without which the written statement(s) shall not be taken on record.
33. Liberty is given to the plaintiff to file replication(s), if any, within three (3) weeks from the receipt of the written statement(s). Along with the CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 8 of 9 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43 replication(s) filed by the plaintiff, affidavit(s) of admission/ denial of the documents of the defendants be filed by the plaintiff.
34. Rejoinder(s), if any, to the reply(ies) to the captioned applications filed by the defendants, shall be filed within two (2) weeks from the receipt of such reply(ies).
35. The parties shall file all original documents in support of their respective claims along with their respective pleadings. In case the parties are placing reliance on a document, which is not in their power and possession, its detail and source shall be mentioned in the list of reliance, which shall also be filed with the pleadings.
36. If any of the parties wish to seek inspection of any documents, the same shall be sought and given within the timelines.
37. List before the Court on 21st July, 2025.
AMIT BANSAL, J MAY 07, 2025 kd CS(COMM) 417/2025 Page 9 of 9 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 29/06/2025 at 21:00:43