The judgment establishes the principle that reproduction of a literary work without falling within the exceptions provided in the Copyright Act constitutes copyright infringement, and the rights of the original author must be protected.

JUDGMENT :

Mukul Mudgal, J.

This is an application under Order XXXIX Rule 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (in short the `CPC') in a suit filed by plaintiff No.1 inter alias the Syndicate of the Press of the University of Cambridge which trades in the name of Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, United Kingdom(hereinafter referred to as the `Syndicate') and its Associate in India which has published the low price edition of the book in question, M/s Foundation Books Private Ltd., i.e., the plaintiff No.2 (hereinafter referred to as the `Company'). The Syndicate has averred that it is a reputed publisher with an international standing and holds all rights in respect of the publication "Advance Grammar in Use by Martin HEWINGS"(hereinafter referred to as he `subject work').

2. The plaintiffs have averred in the plaint as follows:-

(a) that the aforesaid subject work has been prescribed and used in several institutions and universities all over the world and is inter alias prescribed by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar(hereinafter referred to as the `GNDU') in the State of Punjab for the students of Bachelor of Arts Part I, II and III commencing for the year 2004-05.

(b) that while the international price of the book is in the region of around $29, the Company under license from the Syndicate had produced a low price edition at the price of Rs.95/- approximately US $ 2.

(c) that the cause of action for approaching this Court arose as the defendant had published three books, namely, "KLS A Text Book of General English for B.A./B.Sc./B.Com. Part-I (G.N.D.U.)" [hereinafter referred to as the `first book'] , "KLS A Text Book of General English for B.A./B.Sc./B.Com. Part-II (G.N.D.U.)"[hereinafter referred to as the `second book'] and "KLS A Text Book of General English for B.A./B.Sc./B.Com. Part-III (G.N.D.U.)" [hereinafter referred to as the `third book'] which contained a brazen copy of a reproduction of the subject work and incorporated verbatim the literary work of the subject work including the complete set of exercises and the Answer Key to the said exercises from Unit 1 to 120.

(d) that the first book contains unauthorized reproduction of the literary text from the exercises and Answer Keys given in Units 1 to 42 of the plaintiffs' subject work and the second one contains reproduction of the literary text from the exercises and answer keys given in Units 43 to 81 of the plaintiff's subject work and third one contains reproduction of the literary text from Units 82 to 120 of the plaintiff's subject work.

3. As an example, the following extracts were cited to demonstrate and substantiate the plea of the plaintiffs:-

""EXTRACTS FROM THE PLAINTIFFS' TITLE `ADVANCED ENGLISH GRAMMAR' BY MARTIN HEWINGS. PUBLISHED BY _ CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS EXTRACTS FROM THE DEFENDANT'S TITLE `ENGLISH GUIDE' PUBLISHED BY KASTURI LAL and SONS (KLS).

Unit _ 1, Exercise 1.1, Page 3

Unit _ 1, Exercise 1.1, page 13

Suggest a verb to complete each sentence. Use the present simple or the present continuous. Use to add any words outside the space

Suggest a verb to complete each sentence. Use the present simple or the present continuous. Use to add any words outside the space

1. Even though Sarah says she's feeling better, I think she is still losing weight.

2. Frank............stamps in his spare time. It's his hobby.

3. The airline currently...........half price ticket to Japan, but for one month only.

4. My mother...............all the doors and windows before she goes to bed.

5. Because of the present threat of war, the best qualified people ....... the country.

6. Both ancient and recent records show that farmers...............long hours.

7. She has an important project to finish by next week, so she...........in the evening at present.

8. Philip is an excellent linguist. He .......................six languages fluently.

9. `How are you getting on with the book?' At the moment I ......... chapter four'.

10. Here we are in Switzerland again. W