GLAXO GROUP LIMITED Vs. KAMLESH PATEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiffs have instituted a suit for permanent injunction restraining the infringement of trademarks, passing off, rendition of accounts, damages, etc. against the defendants. The said suit has been instituted by Mr. Rahul Sethi, the Constituted Attorney of the plaintiff no. 1 and Mrs. Sree Patel, the constituted Attorney of plaintiff no. 2 by virtue of Power of Attorney in their favour respectively (Ex. PW1/2).

(2.) The plaintiffs are members of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies of which GlaxoSmithKline Plc. is the parent company engaged in the worldwide business of manufacturing and marketing a wide range of research based pharmaceutical, medicinal preparations and health care products. The plaintiff no.1 is a company incorporated under the laws of United Kingdom and is indirectly held, wholly owned subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline, which is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. The plaintiff no. 2 is a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956, having its registered office in Mumbai and is engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of various pharmaceutical products in India including but not limited to Iodex, Betnovate, Fortum, Furacin, Ventorlin etc. GlaxoSmithKline has its operations in some 119 countries and has over 100,000 employees worldwide. It is stated that in 2005, its sales were of 21.6 billion pounds and profit before tax was of 6.7 billion pounds with an estimated 6.3% share of the global pharmaceutical market.

(3.) The plaint states that the trade mark Ventorlin of the plaintiffs is registered in India under number 459325 in class 5 in the name of plaintiff no. 2 and that the said registration has been duly renewed and is valid and subsisting on the Register. It is further stated that plaintiff no. 1 is the proprietary owner of the trademark Ventolin which is registered in India under number 255228 in class 5 and the said registration is also valid and subsisting on the Register. The product directory of the plaintiffs is exhibited and marked as Ex. PW1/6 and a copy of the certificate of the registration of drug product registration in the name of Glaxo Hong Kong Limited and registrations in Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong and New Zealand are exhibited and marked as Ex. PW1/7 and Ex. PW1/8 (colly) respectively.