Delhi High Court - Orders
Upl Limited vs Bhaskar Agrochemicals Ltd & Anr on 25 May, 2021
Author: Sanjeev Narula
Bench: Sanjeev Narula
$~15
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS(COMM) 238/2021
UPL LIMITED ..... Plaintiff
Through: Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, Senior
Advocate with Mr. Rajeshwari H.
& Mr. Tahir A.J, Advocates.
versus
BHASKAR AGROCHEMICALS LTD & ANR. ..... Defendants
Through: Mr. SVS Chowdary, Advocate.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA
ORDER
% 25.05.2021 [VIA VIDEO CONFERENCING]
I.A. No. 6675/2021(for seeking liberty for subsequent filing of relevant court fee)
1. The present application u/Section 149 r/w Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (in short 'CPC') has been filed on behalf of the Plaintiff seeking liberty to subsequently file relevant court fee.
2. The Plaintiffs submit that due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and resultant restrictions, they are unable to procure the necessary court fee stamps. Due to the urgency of the matter, Plaintiff has filed the subject suit without the court fee.
3. The application is allowed, subject to the Plaintiff filing the requisite court fee within two weeks from the day the lockdown restrictions imposed by the Government of NCT of Delhi are lifted and the facility for issuance CS(COMM) 238/2021 Page 1 of 5 of court fee stamps is resumed.
4. The application stands disposed of.
I.A. No. 6676/2021(for exemption from filing certified copies, typed copies of the documents)
5. The present application on behalf of the Plaintiff seeks exemption from filing the original/certified copies, documents with proper margins and better/clear copies.
6. The application is allowed, subject to the Plaintiff filing the exempted documents within two weeks from the day the lockdown restrictions imposed by the Government of NCT of Delhi are lifted.
7. The application stands disposed of.
I.A. No. 6677/2021 (for exemption from filing duly notarized affidavits)
8. The present application under Section 151 of the CPC on behalf of the Plaintiff seeks exemption from filing duly notarized affidavits.
9. The Plaintiffs submit that due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and resultant restrictions, they are unable to procure notarized affidavits. Due to the urgency of the matter, Plaintiff has filed the subject suit without the notarized affidavits.
10. The application is allowed, subject to the Plaintiff filing the exempted documents within two weeks from the day the lockdown restrictions imposed by the Government of NCT of Delhi are lifted and the facility for attestation of affidavits is resumed.
11. The application stands disposed of.
CS(COMM) 238/2021 & I.A. No. 6674/2021 (under Order XXXIX R 1 and 2 r/w Section 151 CPC) CS(COMM) 238/2021 Page 2 of 5
12. The Plaintiff-UPL Limited, is into the business of manufacturing agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers and the like. The present suit relates to a synergistic insecticidal composition comprising of Acephate and Imidacloprid and the process of preparing thereof. The Plaintiff filed and was granted two patents, which form the subject matter of the present suit being- Indian Patent No. IN 194211 (hereinafter referred as IN'211) and IN 211250 (hereinafter referred to as IN'250). The composition of the aforesaid patents comprises primarily Acephate and Imidacloprid as active ingredients together with carrier(s) and excipients. The IN'211 is a process patent for the preparation of the abovementioned insecticidal composition and IN'250 is a product patent granted in respect of the said insecticidal composition. The details of the patents are as follows:
Patent No. 194211 211250
Patent Application 558/MUM/2002 991/MUM/2003
No.
Title of Invention A process for preparing A synergistic
synergistic insecticidal insecticidal
composition containing composition
Chloronicotynyle and containing
Organophosphorus Chloronicotynyle
Compounds and
Organophosphorus
Compounds
Date of Filing 26.06.2002 22.09.2003
Date of Publication 20.03.2004 05.05.2006
under Section 11A
Date of Grant 15.04.2005 23.10.2007
Date of Expiry 26.06.2022 26.06.2022
13. The Plaintiff's grievance in the present suit is that in the month of December, 2020, the Plaintiff's field executives received information that CS(COMM) 238/2021 Page 3 of 5 the Defendant No. 1 is manufacturing and intending to launch a product in India comprising of Acephate 50% + Imidacloprid 1.8% SP (SP-Soluble Powder). The Plaintiff conducted an investigation and found that Defendant No. 1 has applied for registration under Section 9(4) ['me too license'] of the Insecticides Act, 1968. The said registration was approved as recorded in the Minutes of 379th meeting of Registration Committee (RC) held on 30th October, 2017 and certificate under Section 9(4) of the Insecticide Act, 1968 had been issued. Thereafter, in March 2021, the Plaintiff further learnt that Defendant No.1 was not only ready with the product but was ready to supply to other entities and launch the product in May-June 2021.
14. Mr. SVS Chowdary, learned counsel for Defendant No. 1 appears on advance notice, and submits that he shall be filing his vakalatnama. He submits, on instructions that the suit patent is valid up to 26th June, 2022 and till such time Defendant No. 1 has no intention to manufacture, sell, distribute, advertise, import or export or offer for sale in any manner, directly or indirectly any product that infringes the subject matter of the Plaintiff's registered patents IN'211 and IN'250.
15. Mr. Chowdary further confirms that in the past, the Defendant No. 1 has not sold any product that infringes the subject matter of Plaintiff's registered patents IN'211 and IN'250. He submits that in view of the above, he has no objection in case the suit is decreed insofar as prayer (a) is concerned.
16. The statement made by Mr. SVS Chowdary is taken on record and Defendant No. 1 is held bound by the same. Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, learned Senior Counsel for the Plaintiff, states that in view of the statement made by the counsel for the Defendant No.1, he has instructions to state that the CS(COMM) 238/2021 Page 4 of 5 Plaintiff is not pressing the remaining prayers (b) to (f).
17. In view of the above, the suit is decreed in favour of the Plaintiff and against Defendant No. 1 insofar as prayer (a) is concerned, during the validity of Plaintiff's suit patents i.e., upto 26th June, 2022. The said prayer clause reads as under:
"a. A decree of permanent injunction restraining the Defendants, their directors, employees, officers, servants, agents and all others acting for and on its behalf from manufacturing, selling, distributing, advertising, importing, exporting, offering for sale, advertising and in any other manner, directly or indirectly, dealing in any product that infringes the subject matter of the Plaintiff's registered patent Nos. IN 194211 and IN 211250"
18. Further, Defendant No. 1 is directed to file an affidavit, in terms of the statement made by their counsel, recorded hereinabove, within a period of one week from today, with advance copy furnished to the counsel for the Plaintiff.
19. The present suit is decreed in the above terms and the pending application i.e., [I.A. No. 6674/2021] is disposed of.
SANJEEV NARULA, J MAY 25, 2021 as CS(COMM) 238/2021 Page 5 of 5