PANACEA BIOTEC LIMITED Vs. ANCHOR PHARMA PRIVATE LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff company has filed the present suit for permanent injunction, passing off, infringement of copy right and damages, inter alia, praying for a decree restraining the defendant, their servants, agents, dealers, proprietors/ Partners/directors, stockists, representatives and all other persons acting on their behalf from manufacturing and selling, offering for sale or otherwise dealing in, directly or indirectly, drugs, pharmaceuticals and medicines including Nimesulide tablets under infringing trade mark "Ansulide" or any other trade mark which may be identical with or deceptively similar to the reputed trade mark "Nimulid" of the plaintiff's; from passing of defendant's goods as goods of the plaintiff from infringing the copy right of the plaintiff with regard to their distinctive packing box/packing wraper and packing strips in respect of medicines including Nimesulide, tablets and for order for destruction of all the blocks dies, packing cartons/wrappers packing boxes, packing material/cartons and stationery etc. used for infringing the aforesaid trade mark "Nimulid".

(2.) The plaintiffs Company is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling "drugs and pharmaceuticals". They had obtained a drug licence regarding the Use of the trade mark "Nimulid" in January 1995. The said medicinal preparation is used for ailment of inflammatory control, analgesic and antipyretic etc. It is claimed that in a short span of three years this medicine became popular with the patients, doctors, hospitals and other medical institutions all over India. The medicine under the trader mark "Nimulid" initablet form is packed and offered for sale in distinctive packing cartons/packing wrappere/packing strips having a unique colour combination. The plaintiff company claims to be the owner of exclusive proprietory rights with respect to the artistic work on the cartons/blister strips under the provisions of Indian Copyright Act,1957 (in short the Act) It is averred that the plaintiff on account of the quality of their product have acquired unique goodwill and reputation with respect to its Nimesulide tablets under the trade mark "Nimulid. It is alleged that since November 1995 various other companies had tried to copy plaintiff's trade mark and the artistic design work and colour scheme of the cartons and the blister strips and pass off Nimesulide tablets in the market as that of the plaintiff's. The plaintiff was compelled to file suits for injunction against various companies to protect their proprietory rights. Some of the suits, on giving undertaking by the defendant companies, ended in compromise decrees, Whereas in others, plaintiff has been successful in obtaining injunction, restraining them from using the trade mark and artistic design work of packing cartons and strips, which were identical and deceptively similar to that of the plaintiff.

(3.) It is pleaded that in the last week of January 1998 the plaintiff came to know that defendant has started manufacturing and selling Nimesulide tablets under the trade mark "Ansulide" packed in blister packing and packing strips consisting,of yellow and blue colour combination amounting to infringement of plaintiff's copy right as well as passing off their goods as those of plaintiff's. The plaintiff company, thus, filed the present suit for injunction, passing off, infringement of copy right and damages etc. The suit was registered on 19/02/1996.