M. SUNDAR, J.

1. There is a sole plaintiff and a sole defendant in the main suit. Sole defendant in the main suit is the applicant herein and the sole plaintiff in the main suit is the sole respondent herein. Parties in this application, i.e., A.No.3965 of 2017 shall be referred to by their respective ranks in the main suit for the sake of convenience and clarity.

2. Sole defendant has taken out the instant application with a prayer for rejection of plaint under Order VII Rule 11 of 'The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908' ('CPC' for brevity).

3. Before we look into this application for rejection of plaint, it may be necessary to have a panoramic birds eye view of the main suit as it unfurls from the plaint averments.

4. According to plaint averments, plaintiff is a renowned manufacturer and exporter of hair dyes and other products made of Henna. Plaintiff commenced business in 1998 and has grown into one of the leading manufacturer and marketer of Dye based products in India with turnover running into several lakhs of rupees. It has also been averred in the plaint that plaintiff is the owner of copyright in the artistic work in the pouch and carton in which plaintiff's products inter-alia bearing the mark 'AMIN'S' is marketed. According to plaint averments, plaintiff's first date of publication is 1998. The copyright was created by employees of plaintiff during the course of their employment and no contract to the contrary exists is plaintiff's say. In other words, plaintiff is the sole and absolute owner of the copyright 'AMIN'S' (hereinafter referred to as 'suit CR' for brevity) as depicted in the pouch and cartons in which plaintiff's products are marketed is plaintiff's specific say.

5. It has also been averred in the plaint that around April 2007, plaintiff discovered that defendant was manufacturing and selling black Hennas exploiting plaintiff's suit CR 'AMIN'S'. Plaintiff's suit CR and alleged offending copyright of defendant as set out in the plaint are as follows :

IMAGE

6. Alleging that the above is a clear case of infringement of copyright and passing off qua suit CR, the instant suit has been filed by plaintiff (presented on 21.4.2017) with prayers for injunctive reliefs qua infringement of suit CR and passing off qua suit CR. Usual prayers for direction to surrender offending materials and for accounts, costs and residuary relief also form part of the plaint.

7. Considering the nature of submissions made in the reject the plaint application, I deem it appropriate to extract the entire prayer paragraph which is paragraph 48 of the plaint and the same reads as follows:

'48.The Plaintiff, therefore, prays for Judgment and Decree for :-

(a)granting a permanent injunction, restraining the Defendant, by themselves, their servants, agents, distributors, or anyone claiming through them from reproducing by selling, advertising and or offering for sale both domestic and exports by using the impugned Copyright AMIL'S as shown in Document No.2 upon the goods or in any media and use the same in invoices, letter heads and visiting cards or by using any other Copyright which is in any way substantially reproduce the Plaintiff's Copyright AMIN'S the picture mark as shown in Document No.1 or in any manner infringing the Plaintiff's Copyright as shown in Document No.1.

(b)granting a permanent injunction, restraining the Defendant, by themselves, their servants, agents, distributors, or anyone claiming through them from manufacturing, distributing, advertising and or offering for sale by using the impugned Copyright AMIL'S as shown in Document No.2 in the course of their business both domestic and exports upon the goods or in any media and use the same in invoices, letter heads and visiting cards or by using any other Copyright which is in any way visually, phonetically or deceptively similar to the Plaintiff's Copyright the picture mark as shown in Document No.1 or in any manner passing off the Plaintiff's Copyright as AMIN'S shown in Do