SALGUNAN.N. Vs. RAM GOPAL EDARA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This suit has been filed for permanent injunction restraining the defendants and their men from in any manner infringing the plaintiffs' copyright on the literary work of compilation of the book titled "Review of Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination" by printing, publishing and offering for sale "PG Plus" or "PG Plus 2003" or any other book which is substantial reproduction of the plaintiffs' compilation titled "Review of Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination" or in any way infringing the plaintiffs' copyright in the subject book and for damages.

(2.) The brief facts of the plaintiffs case is as follows : 2.1. It is the case of the plaintiff that the first plaintiff authored books of compilation of multi choice questions and answers under the title 'Review of Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examinations' ever since 1988 every year and the second plaintiff is the publisher of the same. The first plaintiff is a senior consultant cardio thoracic surgery by profession. The plaintiff, seeing the difficulties experienced by the candidates preparing for the post graduate medical entrance examinations and with the encouragement given by professors and doctors, compiled multiple choice questions and answers and first published in the year 1988 under the title "Review of Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examinations'. The plaintiff has spent considerable amount of time, skill, capital, labour and expenses for compilation of the book deriving important questions from various entrance examination question papers from the year 1978. The first plaintiff had put in enormous task in collecting these question papers. He had put in more efforts to find correct answers to all the questions contained therein by referring to standard text books, contacting experts in the respective fields in India and abroad, browsing through internet etc. The latest volume contain around 18,000 multi choice questions. This voluminous task was not done overnight but was built up over a period 15 long years ever since 1988 as follows :

(3.) Brief contentions of the defendants are as follows : 3.1 Denying the allegations of the plaintiffs, it is the contention of the defendants that compilation of questions from various universities is no literary or artistic work. The multiple choices are not original and they are all a reproduction from actual questions asked in various examinations conducted by various universities. The works are therefore, not original but complied from materials which are open to all. The mere fact that the plaintiff has published such a work will not deprive the right of the defendants to publish another work of the same kind. The plaintiffs cannot claim any exclusive rights over the same. Even prior to the book published by the plaintiff there was an earlier work called as Dr.Omkarnath's Medical Encyclopaedia published by CBS publishers and Distributors, Delhi since in the year 1985. Several other publications have been made from several publishing houses, all of whom try to gather questions asked in various examinations from 40 odd medical universities in India. To list few publishers, they are Jaypee Publications, New Delhi, CBS Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, Aditya Medical Publishers, New Delhi, Paras Medical Books, Hyderabad, Vikas Bharati publication Hyderabad, All India publishers and distributors, Chennai. Since uniformity in standard or education is ensured through regulation from Medical Council of India, the subjects taught in all graduate courses and the number of years are the same. The question papers are therefore, drawn only from 20 known subjects which are categorized as areas of separate study in the academic disciplines of all medical colleges.