Delhi High Court - Orders
Sirona Hygiene Pvt. Ltd vs Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd. & Ors on 9 September, 2020
Author: Mukta Gupta
Bench: Mukta Gupta
$~1
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS(COMM) 368/2020
I.A. 7867/2020 (under Order XXXIX Rule 1 and 2 CPC)
I.A. 7868/2020 (under Order XI Rule 1(4) Commercial Courts Act)
I.A. 7869/2020 (exemption from filing clear /certified/original copies)
SIRONA HYGIENE PVT. LTD. ..... Plaintiff
Represented by: Mr.Mukul Sharma, Advocate with
Mr.Avijit Sharma, Mr.Vinay Pandey,
Advocates
versus
FLIPKART INTERNET PVT. LTD. & ORS. .... Defendant
Represented by: Mr.Siddharth Aggarwal, Advocate
with Mr.Dheeraj Nair, Advocate for
D1.
Mr.Saikrishna Rajagopal, Ms.Savni
Dutt Endlaw, Mr.Vivek Ayyagari,
Advocates for D2.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MUKTA GUPTA
ORDER
% 09.09.2020 The hearing has been conducted through video conferencing. I.A. 7869/2020 (exemption)
1. Exemption allowed subject to just exceptions. Original documents and certified copies, if any, be filed within two weeks of the resumption of the normal Court functioning.
2. Application is disposed of.
Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:JUSTICECS(COMM) 368/2020 PageGUPTA MUKTA 1 of 4 Signing Date:09.09.2020 19:35:00 I.A. 7868/2020 (under Order XI Rule 1(4) Commercial Courts Act)
1. Additional documents, if any, be filed within thirty days.
2. Application is disposed of.
CS(COMM) 368/2020 I.A. 7867/2020 (under Order XXXIX Rule 1 and 2 CPC)
1. Plaint be registered as a suit.
2. Issue summons in the suit and notice in the application to the defendants. Mr.Dheeraj Nair and Mr. Saikrishna Rajagopal, learned counsels appearing for the defendant No. 1 and defendant No. 2 respectively, accept summons in the suit and notice in the application.
3. Notice be now issued to the defendant Nos. 3 to 13 on the plaintiff taking steps through Email, SMS and Whatsapp, returnable for 25th November, 2020.
4. Case of the plaintiff is that the plaintiff has been registered as a seller with the defendant Nos. 1 and 2 since the year 2015 onwards and has been granted. specific Flipkart Serial Numbers (in short, 'FSN') and Amazon Standard Identification Numbers (in short, 'ASIN') in respect of its products which are displayed on E-Commerce websites of defendant Nos.1 and 2. While registering itself as a seller, plaintiff has created Graphical User Interfaces/web pages. Plaintiff claims that it has a copyright in the Graphical User Interfaces/web pages relatable to the FSN/ASIN numbers of its products.
5. Grievance of the plaintiff is that the defendant Nos. 1 and 2 have permitted other sellers to tag along with the plaintiff's FSN/ASIN numbers, for identical products, thereby permitting the third parties to use the Graphical User Interfaces created by the plaintiff.
Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:JUSTICECS(COMM) 368/2020 PageGUPTA MUKTA 2 of 4 Signing Date:09.09.2020 19:35:00
6. Learned counsel for the defendant No. 1 has brought to the notice of this Court the agreement between the plaintiff and the defendant No. 1 wherein, the plaintiff has agreed a free licence to the defendant No.1 in respect of the contents of the display. Further the agreement between the parties defines 'Contents' to include the web pages etc. Learned counsel for the defendant No. 1 also takes the objection in respect of the territorial jurisdiction of this Court to try the suit vis-à-vis defendant No. 1 on the ground that as per the agreement between the parties and the seller policy of the defendant No. 1, the Courts at Bangalore will have the jurisdiction to try suits in relation to the disputes between the plaintiff and defendant No. 1.
7. Learned counsel for the defendant No. 2 has stated that the plaintiff has not placed on record the Amazon Business Solutions agreement arrived at between the plaintiff and defendant No. 2. Learned counsel for the defendant No. 2 has taken this Court through the Amazon Business Solutions Agreement wherein, as per Clause 4, the plaintiff has agreed to provide a royalty free licence to defendant No. 2 in respect of its copyright in the web page etc. Learned counsel for the defendant No. 2 has also brought to the notice of this Court the ASIN creation policy of the defendant No. 2 by virtue of which, it is clearly stated that the third parties selling the same product will also be tagged along with the ASIN number first created by the plaintiff or any third party.
8. Considering the nature of agreement(s) between the plaintiff and defendant Nos. 1 and 2, at this stage, this Court finds no ground to grant ad- interim injunction in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants.
9. List the suit and application on 25th November, 2020.
Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:JUSTICECS(COMM) 368/2020 PageGUPTA MUKTA 3 of 4 Signing Date:09.09.2020 19:35:00
10. Written statements to the suit and reply affidavits to the application along with the affidavits of admission-denial will be filed within thirty days by the defendants, including defendant Nos. 3 to 13 on receipt of summons and notice. Replication and rejoinder affidavit along with the affidavit of admission-denial within three weeks thereafter by the plaintiff.
11. Copy of the order be uploaded on the website of this Court.
MUKTA GUPTA, J.
SEPTEMBER 09, 2020 akb Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:JUSTICE CS(COMM) 368/2020 PageGUPTA MUKTA 4 of 4 Signing Date:09.09.2020 19:35:00