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17. We have carefully analyzed the facts of the case and
arguments made by the Ld. Counsel for the assessee as well
as counter arguments made by the Ld. Departmental
Representative. The undisputed facts before us are that none
of the customers have purchased only machine or only
software. There was no customer who purchased only
software. Ld. Counsel for the assessee drew our attention on
various pages of the paper book to establish that the machine
sold by the assessee could not be made operational or
functional in the absence of operating software along with the
application software. These facts were not controverted by
the Ld. Departmental Representative during the course of
hearing in response to a specific query put to him by the
Bench. It is noted that complete details have been given by
the assessee in the paper book at Page-222 and 224. Our
attention was also drawn on certificate from the assessee
enclosed at Page-225 of the paper book certifying that
software supplied by the assessee to end user was for
integration with the machine supplied by the assessee and
that this software had no other independent use as such,
except to enable such machine to function. We have also gone
through the End User License Agreement (EULA) entered into
by the assessee with the customers wherein there are
various clauses which indicate that the software supplied by
the assessee was meant only and exclusively for the purpose
of making the said machine functional. Clause 2.1 of the
agreement provides that customer is granted non-exclusive,
non-transferable limited license to use the software and
related knowhow on the machine for the sole purpose of
scanning the internal / external feature of rough diamond
and creating a three dimensional image of these features of
rough diamond. Clause 2.2 of the agreement puts certain
restrictions upon the customers for any other use of the
software in any other machine. This clause restrains the
customer from duplicating the software or making any copies,
modifications, isolating the software and making it available
as a standalone data base or product, removing any product
identification, copyright or other proprietary notice from the
software or decompiling, disassembling, reverse engineering,
or making any other attempt to reconstruct or discover the
source code, etc. This clause clearly lays down that customer
shall not reproduce the software or any of the documentation
provided in connection with the software or related knowhow.
It is further noted that clause 6.2 of the said agreement lays
down that the assessee is and shall remain sole and
exclusive owner of the right, title and interest in the software
and related know. This software cannot be used by the
customer except for the operation of the machine. It is further
noted by us that the machine was equipped with requisite
security controls and hardware locks to stop any type of
misuse of software. Clause 10.2 of one of the agreement
available at Page-49 is reproduced hereunder for the sake of
ready reference:-