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Showing contexts for: bubbling in Galatea Ltd vs Diyora And Bhanderi Corporation on 26 March, 2018Matching Fragments
27. It is also submitted by the defendants that they are not engaged in providing inclusion scanning service by using duplicate machines incorporating the Suit Patent. It is claimed by the defendants that defendant no.3 in collaboration of other defendants have developed a distinct technology that does not fall within the scope of claims of the Suit Patent constituting any infringement. It is also denied by the defendants that the defendants, in their business of providing inclusion scanning services to third party make use of the Suit Patent pertaining to determination of inclusions in a gemstone. It is also denied that the defendants are manufacturing or have manufactured or have provided services in relation to duplicate and infringing machines for commercial purposes. It is averred by the defendants that in fact the defendants have their own technology and machine which is independently developed ensuring that it does not infringe the Suit Patent whatsoever. It is contended that the sole basis or rather novelty on the basis of which the Suit Patent was granted in India is for a device or system operative to reduce or eliminate presence of gas bubbles from the immersion medium and not for any scanning machine or system for scanning machines per se. It is alleged by the defendants that the plaintiffs have deliberately hidden this core heart of the invention and have repeatedly indicated falsely to the Court that the very use of Selenium is their patent, which is grossly incorrect, false and mentioned purely to mislead the Court. The defendants have contended that numerous prior arts exist prior to the Suit Patent which were cited in the proceedings of the Suit Patent, particularly, in the First Examination Report issued by Indian Patent Office, as a result of which, the plaintiffs, by their own admission, limited their novelty in "a device or system operative to reduce or eliminate presence of gas bubbles from immersion medium". Relying upon the First Examination Report of the Indian Patent Office, it is contended by the defendants that the Suit Patent provides for limited rights to the plaintiffs and by their own admission are certainly estopped in equity to claim otherwise which even law does not grant to them, which indeed is misrepresentation and warrants strict action against the plaintiffs. It is claimed by the defendants that the device or machine that is being developed and used by the defendants does not comprise of any device or system operative to reduce or eliminate presence of gas bubbles from the immersion medium. The defendants have submitted that the use of Selenium cannot, in any manner, whatsoever under the fair principles of claim construction, be construed to be the substance/pith and marrow of the present invention and the Suit Patent relates to only on use of a device to prevent bubble formation. The defendants have contended that as the defendants' inclusion detection device does not have vacuum/bubble prevention device, there is no infringement of Suit Patent by the defendants' device in any manner. It is contended by the defendants that the device to prevent bubble formation enabled the plaintiffs to get the patent as that was last claim amendment that they did in order to get the allowance. It is also contended by the defendants that nonuse of such a device that prevents bubble formation can be clearly evidenced from the local commission report that indicated that no vacuum pump was present in the devices inspected during the visit.
45. Further, more particularly, relying upon Paragraph 13 of the final report of the Court Commissioner, it was contended that the machines of defendant no.1 provide for introduction of Helium gas in the container before the same is heated and the pressure of the gas is controlled by various valves found in the machine. It was further contended that the structure of the machines of the defendants was also found to be similar. Further, relying upon the Commissioner's report as well as CD which is submitted by the Court Commissioner along with the report, it was contended that the machines used by the defendants are comparable to the machines operated by plaintiff no.1. It was further contended that even the Court Commissioner has noted that defendant no.1 used Selenium as the medium in which the rough diamonds are submerged quickly at first and then at a slower pace after the bell valve gets compressed and thereafter, even at a slower pace prior to actual process of scanning. It was contended that only the contention which is raised by the defendants is that they do not have bubble prevention technology/device and it is further the case of the defendants that there is no vacuum pump in the device of the defendants. It was further contended that the defendants have admittedly stated in the video recording that there is only one distinguishing factor between their machines from those of the plaintiffs which is the perceived absence of the bubble prevention device/technology in terms of a vacuum pump. It was further contended that bubble prevention mechanism which is part of the Suit Patent is not confined to removal of bubble through vacuum pump alone. Explaining the steps, it was contended as under:
52. Per contra, Mr. Saurabh N. Soparkar, learned Senior Advocate for defendant no.1, after enumerating the main points which have been argued on behalf of the plaintiffs, contended that what is now argued orally is not forming part of the contentions in the plaint and the same goes to the root of the matter. Referring to main claims which are accepted by the Controller of Patent being claims no.1 and 18, it was contended that these claims say, inter alia, about the device to remove bubbles. It was contended that the Court Commissioner came for inspection and that device was not there and thus, principal claim is of removal of bubble by vacuum pump. Mr. Soparkar also took this Court through the contents of the plaint and contended that the whole case of the plaintiffs is different and what is argued is not the case in the pleadings at all. It was contended that there is not even a suggestion or an indication about the vacuum pump as well as removal of bubble and the same is not even whispered at all. It was contended that in such circumstances, how can oral arguments be made which is not found in the plaint. It was contended that the ground on which the Suit is filed is use of Selenium and it is stated that the same is in violation of the Suit Patent and bubble and vacuum pump for removal of bubble is not even mentioned. It was thus contended that whole case pleaded is in variance with what is argued and hence, no relief can be granted. It was contended that vacuum pump is not even pleaded and it is not their case and therefore, the plaintiffs cannot claim injunction on this basis. Mr. Soparkar contended that the defendants' case is that the defendants do not use any vacuum pump. It was contended that even if it is presumed that there are pleadings, the defendants' machines do not use any vacuum pump or any other device for removal of bubble. It was contended that what is the basis of the argument is the report of the Court Commissioner. Mr. Soparkar, further referring to the Court Commissioner's report, contended that it is not possible to infer that the vacuum pumps were removed in all 212 machines. It was contended that outlet valve can be provided for many things. It was thus contended that even the Court Commissioner has noted that in 212 machines, no pump was there and therefore, whole Suit is a misconceived Suit. It was contended that the report of the Court Commissioner is wholly unrealistic, bias and the Court Commissioner was appointed by the plaintiffs and no pump has been found and therefore, there is no possibility for use of the pump by the defendants and thus, there is no infringement and therefore, the application Exh.5 deserves to be rejected. It was contended by Mr. Soparkar that each claim is a different claim and therefore, the defendants have not committed any breach of the patent. It was reiterated by Mr. Soparkar that the defendants are not using any vacuum pump. It was contended that in the plaint, the case of the plaintiffs is the presence of Selenium. Mr. Soparkar, referring to the new application filed by the plaintiffs, contended that Selenium is subject matter of a different patent application, which is not granted. It was also contended that the defendants are not using bubble removal device and hence, the plaintiffs should fail on merits as well as the pleadings.
55. It was therefore submitted that the plaintiffs have no prima facie case and have no balance of convenience and no irreparable loss is likely to be caused and therefore, Exh.5 application must fail.
56. In rebuttal to the contentions raised by the learned Senior Advocate for the defendants, Mr. Shah, learned Senior Advocate for the plaintiffs has again reiterated the submissions which were made earlier. It was contended by Mr. Shah that bubble prevention mechanism is not confined to the presence of vacuum pump. It was contended by Mr. Shah that the claims no.1 and 18 are independent claims of the Suit Patent and the apparatus is meant to detect location of inclusions. It was further contended that the said two independent claims were for the purpose of preventing bubbles and a method of 3 dimension elimination so as to detect exact location of the inclusions. It was also contended that the independent claims as per the Suit Patent is a system and method for reduction of presence of any substance other than inclusions and it does not talk of only vacuum pump, but such system and method comprises of various other methods and steps for withdrawing gas bubbles from the said material. It was contended that two things are provided in the machine; firstly, the vacuum pump; and another is by inserting gas which is used for removal of air bubbles for which components are provided for in the apparatus. It was also contended that the same has nothing to do with the vacuum pump and as noticed even in the Commissioner's report, even in the machines of the defendants, such components are found. Mr. Shah contended that now in this context and juxtaposition to what is exactly granted is of 3 dimensional effects and this is what the patent is. It was contended that the Suit Patent is to find out inclusions in 3 dimensions and such patent is granted and therefore, it was contended that such novel feature is not found in any of the apparatus and therefore, reliance placed for by the defendants on documents at D4 to D6 are different and irrelevant and it is not a prior art. It was contended that novel feature which is found in the machines of the defendants is enough for prima facie case. It was therefore contended that the contentions raised by the defendants that the pith and marrow of the Suit Patent lies in the use of vacuum pump for prevention of bubble formation is a figment imagination of the defendants and is not borne out from the record. It was further contended that thus, it is manifest that withdrawal of gas bubbles under the Suit Patent is not limited to applying vacuum. The said process is also stated to be done by applying inert gas and therefore, the defendants' contention that absence of vacuum pump in their machines shows a complete noninfringement of the Suit Patent is incorrect and untenable. Referring to Paragraphs 29 and 32 of the plaint, it was contended by Mr. Shah that these are the pleadings as to how the defendants have infringed the patent and therefore, the question of plaintiffs' pleading that the whole case is based upon Selenium and vacuum pump and the case of the defendants that the plaintiffs' pleadings is based on the pleadings the plaintiffs have based their whole case upon presence of Selenium and vacuum pump is not correct. It was also contended that while presence of bubble prevention mechanism was considered as one of the novel and unique feature in the Suit Patent by the Controller of Patent, the Suit Patent was not granted only because of that single feature and various other factors have been considered as novel and unique that resulted into grant of patent in favour of the plaintiffs. It was contended that after considering the objections raised and even the U.S. patent being document D1 in the counter claim of defendants no.4 and 5 and so also the opposition to grant the Suit Patent and after considering the said prior arts, the Suit Patent has been granted. It was contended that it contains various other features of apparatus and method as part of the amended claims no.1 and 18 of the Suit Patent. Referring to the order passed by the Patent Controller, it was contended that the Patent Controller, after examining of such aspects, has come to the conclusion that prior art does not disclose the apparatus which takes measure for reducing presence within its immersion material of any substance other than the inclusions having a third refractive index and said measures includes withdrawal of gas bubbles from the said material and determining the position of inclusions in gemstone in all 3 coordinates by illuminating and imaging the entire gemstone. It was therefore contended that the Suit Patent is not granted only because of presence of vacuum pump, is erroneously contended and alleged by the defendants. Mr. Shah contended that the Suit was filed only on the circumstantial evidence in form of presence of Selenium residue and rough gemstone and on the basis of the report which was received by the plaintiffs to their private investigators. However, when the Court Commissioner entered the premises of defendant no.1, the plaintiffs learnt about the defendants infringing the machines exactly and the extent of infringement of the Suit Patent by the defendants. Relying upon the provisions of Order VI Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, it was contended by Mr. Shah that it is a settled law that the plaint should contain only material facts and not evidence and in order to prima facie disclose the case of infringement of Suit Patent, the plaintiffs mentioned those facts which the plaintiffs could unearth without assistance of the Court Commissioner. It was contended that while deciding the interim injunction application, the Court should look into the evidence presented before the Court through the Court Commissioner.