BADAR DURREZ AHMED, J

1. The plaintiffs seeks an ad interim injunction restraining the defendants from making, selling, distributing, advertising, exporting, offering for sale and in any other manner dealing in or with safety I.V. catheters / cannulae or other device or apparatus that infringes the subject matter of the plaintiffs registered patent number 210062. The plaintiffs also seeks an ad interim injunction restraining the defendants from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, exporting, advertising or dealing in any safety I.V. catheters / cannulae under the trademark „VASOFIX® Safety™ or any other mark which uses the plaintiffs alleged confidential information, know-how, trade secrets, data, technical input, drawings, materials and / or any other resource derived by the defendants from the plaintiffs.

2. According to the plaintiffs, the plaintiff No. 1 (B. Braun Melsungen AG), which is a company incorporated in Germany, supplies the global healthcare market with products for anesthesia, intensive medicine, cardiology, surgery as well as services for hospitals, general practitioners and the home care sector. The plaintiff No.1 is said to innovate products and services with the object of optimizing working procedures in hospitals and medical practices all over the world and also focuses on improving safety for patients, doctors and nursing staff. The plaintiff No.2 [B. Braun Medical (India) Pvt. Ltd] is a wholly owned subsidiary of B. Braun Medical Industries Sdn. Bhd., which, in turn, is a 100% subsidiary of the plaintiff No. 1.

3. It is alleged that the plaintiff No. 2 launched its state of art production facility at Chennai on 30.01.2007 for the manufacture of products for the healthcare market. The plaintiff No. 1, inter alia, has a product which is an intravenous (I.V.) catheter, which is also known as I.V. cannula, with an injection port and self-activating needle stick protection.

4. According to the plaintiff an I.V. catheter is a device through which intravenous fluids are administered directly into a patients vascular system. The catheter is inserted into a patients vein by a healthcare worker by using a handheld placement device which includes a sharp tip needle. The needle is positioned in the interior hollow portion of the catheter with its tip extended slightly beyond the edge of the catheter. The end of the apparatus opposite the needle tip is made up of the needle connected to a needle hub, which is capable of being held by the healthcare worker during the insertion procedure. As stated in the plaint, the insertion procedure contains four basic steps:-

(1) The healthcare worker inserts the needle and catheter together into the patients vein;

(2) After insertion into the vein with the needle point, the catheter is forwarded into the vein of the patient by the healthcare worker pushing the catheter with his or her finger;

(3) The healthcare worker withdraws the needle by grasping the hub end (opposite the pointed end) while at the same time applying pressure to the patients skin at the insertion site with his or her free hand; and

(4) The healthcare worker then tapes the now inserted catheter to the patients skin and connects the exposed end of the catheter (the catheter hub) to the source of the fluid to be administered into the patients vein.

5. A problem, which was faced in the aforesaid procedure, was that after the withdrawal of the needle from the patients vein, the healthcare worker, who is at that point of time involved in at least two urgent procedures, had to place the exposed needle tip at a nearby location and address the tasks required to accomplish the needle withdrawal. There was a danger of the exposed needle tip resulting in an accidental needle stick which left the healthcare worker vulnerable to the transmission of various dangerous blood borne pathogens, including AIDS and hepatitis. The plaintiffs invention of the safety I.V. catheters