L.PRAKASAM REDDY Vs. PARAS MEDICAL PUBLISHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is filed by the defendants against the order dtd. 29/3/2023 passed by the Commercial Court by which application for temporary injunction filed by the plaintiffs has been allowed and the appellants herein have been restrained from printing, publishing or distributing the eighth edition of the textbook, namely Fundamentals of Medical Physiology.

(2.) Facts giving rise to filing of this appeal in nutshell are that the appellant No.1 is a retired professor in Physiology with 45 years of experience in teaching, researching and practical experience in Physiology. The appellant Nos.1 to 5 are the authors of medical textbook, namely Fundamentals of Medical Physiology. The appellant No.1 has authored eight editions of the text book based on his continued research.

(3.) On 30/1/1999, the appellant No.1 entered into an agreement with the first respondent's publishing house for publishing a medical textbook, namely Fundamentals of Medical Physiology - second edition. Between the years 1999 and 2015, appellant No.1 published four editions of the medical textbook. Thereafter, the agreement was superseded and the appellants and the respondents entered into a fresh agreement on 18/4/2015 for publication of new edition of the medical textbook. The appellant Nos.1 to 5 by a letter dtd. 16/11/2022 terminated the agreement inter alia on the grounds that (a) respondents failed to make satisfactory efforts in publishing and marketing the textbook; (b) respondents failed to communicate the actual sales of the textbook; and (c) respondents did not make any efforts to increase the availability of the textbook.