JUDGMENT

[VIA VIDEO CONFERENCING]

SANJEEV NARULA, J.:

I.A. 8543/2021 (u/ Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 r/w Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 [hereinafter “CPC”] seeking grant of ex-parte ad-

interim injunction)

1. The Plaintiff, on the basis of an exclusive license for right of use and exploitation in its favour, has filed the present suit seeking permanent injunction for restraining infringement of Indian Patent 214088 dated 13th March 2002 titled ‘Carriage for the horizontal transfer of motor vehicles in automatic mechanical car parks’ [hereinafter referred to as ‘suit patent’]. This invention relates to a self-propelled carriage on wheels, for horizontal transfer of motor vehicles by lifting two or more wheels, in single or multi automatic mechanical car parks. It is commonly known as a ‘Dolly’ or a ‘Silomat Dolly’ [The Plaintiff’s product shall be hereinafter referred to as the ‘Silomat Dolly’].

2. By way of the instant application, pending adjudication of the suit, Plaintiff seeks interim injunction, restraining defendants from inter alia making or importing any product that infringes the Silomat Dolly.

BRIEF FACTS

3. The suit patent was filed on 13th March 2002 by Sotefin Patents SA (formerly known as Sotefin SA) and has been continuously used in India ever since, and is expiring on 13th March 2022. Plaintiff is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sotefin Patents SA and was granted an exclusive license to the suit patent through various agreements with Sotefin Patents SA, beginning from 2010. The Sotefin group of companies are market leaders in the designing and manufacturing of automated car parking systems and the technology in the suit patent is protected in various countries such as the USA, European Patent, Canada, and Australia, and has not been challenged in India since grant of suit patent.

4. On 10th December 2011, Plaintiff entered into a supply contract with Simplex Projects Limited (Defendant No. 3) – a company also involved in the business of automatic parking systems – for the supply of fourteen patented ‘Silomat Dollies’ for the total amount of €6,88,000/- (Six Lakhs Eighty-Eight Thousand Euros only). They also entered into a separate agreement on the same date for supply of drawings of the automatic parking system to Defendant No. 3, which were duly transferred online, as well as sent physically sometime in 2012. Defendant No. 3 was to keep all information related to the know-how and technology provided by the Plaintiff in relation to the suit patent, including all drawings and all technical information, strictly confidential and not disclose to third parties.

5. Indraprastha Cancer Society & Research Centre (Defendant No. 1) is a not-for-profit public society under the Society’s Registration Act, 1860 and operates/manages Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre (Defendant No. 2).

6. In 2017, Defendant No. 2 floated a tender for an automatic car parking system for its site at Rohini, Delhi. In the meeting between the representatives, technical background of the Plaintiff’s product ‘Silomat Dollies’ was shared with Defendant No. 2, and they were also made aware of the existing suit patent. Since Plaintiff did not hear anything from Defendant No. 2, it did not have any means to verify the status of the parking project. Later, in November 2020, it came to Plaintiff’s knowledge that Defendant No. 2 had obtained fire safety permission from the Fire Department, Delhi for its automatic multi- parking system. On investigation, Plaintiff learnt that one Simpark Infrastructure Private Limited (Defendant No. 4) is handling the parking project at Defendant No. 2’s site. Defendant No. 3 is the largest shareholder of Defendant No. 4 and controls its operations and management.

7. On investigation, it was found that Defendant No. 1 had placed an order of supply and import of 14 “Smart Dollies” for the project at Defendant No. 2’s parking system from a company named - Nanjing Eli Parking Equipment Manufacturing Co. Lt