( 1 ) A dispute between two rival manufacturers of calendar date-pads (Dattas) has given rise to this appeal by the original plaintiff whose suit claiming copyright in the date-pad manufactured by him and complaining of infringment on the part of the respondents-defendants was dismissed by the learned Judge presiding other 6th Court in the City Civil Court Ahmedabad by his judgment and order dated June 15 1974 The appeal arises from a suit of 1972 which has been expedited by reason of the fact that even though the respondents-defendants have succeeded in the trial Court they have been restrained by way of interim injunction from manufacturing the date-pads. It has been expedited because if the appellant-plaintiff fails to establish that he has a copyright a temporary copyright for an interim period cannot be granted by the Court by granting an interim injunction restraining the other side from manufacturing date -pads which he has a right to manufacture in case there is no violation or infringement of the alleged copyright of the appellant-plaintiff.

( 2 ) BEFORE coming to grips with the facts a few general observations require to be made. It does not appear to be very clear as to (1) exactly in what right the appellant-plaintiff claims his copyright and (2) precisely in what matter the appellant-plaintiff claims his copyright. It is not clear from the averments in the plaint. And the evidence has not thrown much light on the question We will however have to do the best on the present state of pleadings and the material on record. The date-pad manufactured by the appellant-plaintiff has a peculiar shape. The shape is that of a lotus turned upside down. In other words if the date-pad is turned upside down and one looks at it it will appear to be the shape of a lotus. There are 365 leaves corresponding to each date of the Samvat year in the date-pad. On the edge of each page there is a coloured border. Different pages have borders of different colours. On the left hand side the Gujarati Tithi is mentioned. On the top of the Tithi the Gujarati month is mentioned. And along side the relevant fortnight is indicated by the expression Sud or Vad as the case may be. Beneath the Gujarati figure the date of the week is mentioned in Gujarati. On the right hand side on the top the English month just beneath it the English date and just beneath it the day of the week in English are indicated. In the very centre of the page between the Gujarati date on the left hand side and the English date on the right hand side there is either a portrait of a national leader or a picture indicating the significance of the day or a mythological figure. In some pages the central piece instead of being a portrait or photograph is a decoration. At the bottom the Islamic date and the Parsi date are mentioned in Gujarati. Beneath that a Gujarati proverb is printed. Different proverbs are printed on different pages. At the bottom the Gregorian year is mentioned. That is the scheme of the plaintiffs date-pad. In the plaint it has not been specified as to in what features of the date-pad copyright is claimed. Nor does the plaintiff make it clear whether he is himself the author of the work or is an assignee claiming his rights from the author of the work. It appears from the evidence that the date-pad has been designed with the co-operation of a well-known artist. namely Shri Kanu Desai. He provided the basic idea for the different components of the dale pad and it appears that he has himself designed the central pieces of decoration or portraits or pictures as the case may be. Now it is not made clear in the plaint as to whether copyright is claimed in the pictures paintings and decorations prepared by Shri Kanu Desai. The learned counsel for the appellant-plaintiff in the course of the arguments said that copyright is claimed in the date-pad as a whole.

( 3 ) IT will he convenient to refer to certain aspects of the Copyright Act 1957 and the la