Delhi High Court - Orders
Voiceage Evs Llc vs Guangdong Oppo Mobie ... on 10 November, 2023
Author: C. Hari Shankar
Bench: C. Hari Shankar
$~25
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS(COMM) 306/2023 & I.A. 9249/2023, I.A. 9250/2023, I.A.
17742/2023, I.A. 17839/2023
VOICEAGE EVS LLC ..... Plaintiff
Through: Mr. Pravin Anand, Ms. Vaishali
Mittal, Mr. Siddhant Chamola, Mr. Rohin
Koolwal and Ms. Pallavi Bhatnagar, Advs.
versus
GUANGDONG OPPO MOBIE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CORP LTD & ORS. ..... Defendants
Through: Mr. Siddhant Sharma, Adv. Mr.
Abhay Tandon, Mr. Rishabh Paliwal and
Mr. Suryansh Gupta, Advs.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR
ORDER
% 10.11.2023 I.A. 17742/2023 (formation of confidentiality club (rejoinder filed; reply on record)
1. This is an application by the plaintiff under Section 151 of the CPC read with Rule 17 in Chapter VII of the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules 2018, praying for setting up of a confidentiality club.
2. The point at which the parties have joined issues, regarding the setting up of a confidentiality club appears to be very limited. Both parties are ad idem that a confidentiality club may be set up, and that the club would comprise six members and two experts on each side.
CS(COMM) 306/2023 Page 1 of 4This 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 16/11/2023 at 21:26:47
3. Mr. Pravin Anand, learned Counsel for the plaintiff, has drawn my attention to a communication dated 22 August 2023, from Mr. Hemant Singh to Mr. Pravin Anand, in which it is inter alia suggested that the confidentiality club could be "similar to the one created inter se parties vide NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) dated 28 September 2021 and amendment thereto dated 29 September 2021."
4. Mr. Pravin Anand submits that of the six members who had been co-opted on the defendants' side as members of the confidentiality club, the defendants wanted to replace five of the said members to which the plaintiff has no objection.
5. Mr. Anand further submits that at one point of time, he had objected to licencing personnel of the defendants being members of the confidentiality club, but that, in order to expedite matters, he is not pressing the said objection today.
6. Mr. Anand submits that the only hiccup in constitution of the confidentiality club appears to be with respect to the certain data which, according to the protocol of the confidentiality club which was in place during the NDA, was to be viewed by the defendants in an electronic data room (EDR). Mr. Anand submits that the very idea of permitting of viewing of the said documents in an EDR was to ensure that the documents could not be circulated, which was a live danger in case they were made available to the defendants either in soft or in hard copy.
7. Mr. Anand submits that members of the defendants' CS(COMM) 306/2023 Page 2 of 4 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 16/11/2023 at 21:26:47 confidentiality club would always be at liberty to take down the documents which would be available for viewing even in extenso.
8. Mr. Siddhant Sharma, learned Counsel for the defendants, is agreeable to Mr. Anand's suggestion that the documents in question would be viewed only in India subject to the plaintiff on record, with this Court, the documents which would be seen by the defendants in an EDR, so that the defendants would be assured that the documents were those which were actually seen by the parties.
9. Mr. Anand undertakes that copies of any documents which are viewed in EDR would be also placed on record with this Court in a sealed cover.
10. Accordingly, this application is disposed of with a direction to both sides to provide names of six members and two experts on each side to be members of the confidentiality club within a period of one week from today. As and when the members are thus provided, they would constitute members of the confidentiality club who alone would have access to confidential documents in this matter.
11. The requisite undertakings, undertaking to maintain confidentiality as per the practice followed where the confidentiality club are constituted, shall be placed on record within a period of one week from today, as per Annexure-F to the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules 2018.
I.A. 17839/2023 (under Section 151 of the CPC) CS(COMM) 306/2023 Page 3 of 4 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 16/11/2023 at 21:26:48
12. In view of the aforesaid, both sides agree that this application has become infructuous. The application is disposed of. However, learned Counsel for the defendants prays for permission to make the documents which form subject matter of this application available to the members of the confidentiality club. They are at liberty to do so.
I.A. 9249/2023 & 9250/2023 in CS(COMM) 306/2023
13. Re-notify these applications on 14 December 2023.
C. HARI SHANKAR, J.
NOVEMBER 10, 2023 dsn Click here to check corrigendum, if any CS(COMM) 306/2023 Page 4 of 4 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 16/11/2023 at 21:26:48