Suit complaining of infringement of patent.

The brief facts of the case are as follows. The appellant filed the suit O.S. No. 3 of 1963 on the file of the District Judge, Madurai under section 29 of the Patents and Designs Act against the respondent for a permanent injunction restraining the respondent from manufacturing and selling certain pattern of ploughs on the ground that the respondent’s conduct was an infringement of the plaintiff’s patent. The plaintiff obtained an interim injunction in I.A. No. 181 of 1964 but on an application filed by the defendant-respondent in I.A. No. 182 of 1964 the interim injunction was vacated, The plaintiff has preferred the above appeals complaining that the learned District judge should have granted the interim injunction pending disposal of the suit.

The plaintiff is a manufacturer and dealer engaged in the sale of the plough and plough shares known as “Bose Ploughs” or plough shares and the plaintiff’s case is that in the course of his business he has been experimenting and inventing new patterns of ploughs as a result of his inventive genius and prolonged research and that he obtained a patent on 12th October, 1960, in respect of a particular pattern of plough, having a special twist distinguishing his pattern from the other ploughs in the market. The plaintiff’s case was that he commenced production and sale of this particular type of plough from October, 1962, that about March, 1964 the defendant slavishly imitated the plaintiff’s pattern by manufacturing ploughs and selling the same in the market.

The defendant resisted the claim on the ground that the plaintiff cannot claim any inventive genius or special research in the particular pattern of plough which he was manufacturing having regard to the prior public knowledge and obviousness arising from the manufacture and sale of ploughs long before the controversy arose. The defendant claimed that he has been manufacturing ploughs of various patterns from the year 1958, and that the particular pattern “No. 99 Star Master” which is complained of as an infringement is not any imitation of the plaintiff’s pattern, but is as a result of the defendant’s invention and improvement upon the patterns of ploughs which he had been manufacturing and selling.

In connectior with the interim injunction application a Commissioner was appointed to inspect the premises of the defendant and submit a report. The defendant appears to have stocked his ploughs in Door No. 373/2, as well as, Door Nos. 371 to 375. Some point was made by learned Counsel for the appellant before me that the 99 Star Master ploughs were not shown to the Commissioner at the time of his first report and inspection. On scrutiny of the records I find that nothing turns upon this as the complication arose on account of the fact that the Commissioner inspected only Door No. 373/2 and not the other Door Numbers Even as early as 5th May, 1964, the defendant has brought to the notice of the Commissioner that by the end of 30th April 1964 he had manufactured a total number of 1406 ploughs of “99 Star Master” brand, has sold 660 and had a balance of 746. In view of this it is clear that the defendant has been manufacturing and selling large number of Star Master Ploughs 99.

Principles regulating the grant of an interim injunction in a suit complaining of infringement of a patent are fairly well settled. The plaintiff must make out a strong prima facie case for the issue of a temporary injunction An interim injunction will not be granted if the patent which has been obtained by the plaintiff is a recent one and there is a serious controversy about the validity of the grant of the Patent itself. In other words, if from the objections raised by the defendant it is clear that a serious controversy exists as to whether or not the invention claimed by the Plaintiff is a new one or a new manufacture or whether or not the invention involved any new inventive skill having regard to what was known or used prior to the date of the patent, Co