1. The Plaintiff seeks to protect its registered designs, [Plaint, Exhibit “B”, pp. 39–41 and Exhibit “C”, pp. 42–46] alleging infringement and passing off. These are designs in respect of copper tubes. The Plaintiff’s case is that the three Defendants have infringed the Plaintiff’s design. It must be noted straightaway that the three Defendants are not strangers to the Plaintiff. The 1st Defendant is admittedly a former transporter for the Plaintiff’s goods, and runs his own proprietorship firm. There are invoices from the 1st Defendant in respect of his transport services. [Plaint, Exhibit “M”, pp. 106–110] Defendants Nos. 2 and 3 are the Plaintiff’s erstwhile employees. [Plaint, Exhibit “N”, pp. 111–116]

2. The Plaintiff was established in 1964 and is a manufacturer, supplier and distributor of copper tubes, a business it has been doing for over 45 years. It claims to have gained considerable goodwill and reputation in that time, and says that it now has an annual turnover of Rs. 11 crores.

3. The Plaintiff’s copper tubes have diverse applications, including household air-conditioning, medical gas pipelines and indoor plumbing. Several leading air-conditioner manufacture