The appellant in this case is one, V. Govindan, the 1st defendant in O.S. No. 5 of 1948 on the file of the District Judge, Madurai. He was the proprietor of Sakti Karyalayam of Madras, and published an English-English-Tamil Dictionary, Exhibit A-2, in 1947. The second defendant, one T.N. Subramanian of Madras (who has not appealed) was its compiler. The plaintiff, E. M. Gopalakrishna Kone, a publisher of Mathurai, had published in 1932 itself, an English-English-Tamil Dictionary called the Excelsior Junior School Dictionary, the predecessor of Exhibit A-1, compiled by one K.V. Subba Iyer, a retired District Educational Officer. He sued the appellant and T.N. Subramannian, the 2nd defendant, who compiled Exhibit A-2 for the appellant, for an injunction restraining them and their servants from editing, publishing or selling any of the copies of the Dictionary, Exhibit A-2, and for directing them to render true and proper accounts regarding the publication, sale of the Dictionary, Exhibit A-2, alleged to constitute an infringement of his copyright in Exhibit A-1, and for costs.

The defendants set up various defences, like Exhibit A-2 being an original compilation by the 2nd def