The Allahabad High Court upheld a temporary injunction granted by the Commercial Court at Gautam Budh Nagar restraining Jamp India Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., VS International Pvt. Ltd., and others from reproducing, using, or sharing the copyrighted Product Dossiers of Jubilant Generics Ltd. The Court dismissed Commercial Appeals filed by the defendants, affirming that Jubilant’s Product Dossiers developed through significant research and investment qualify as “literary works” under the Copyright Act, 1957.
The Bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra held that Jubilant established a prima facie case of copyright infringement and breach of confidentiality, as the defendants allegedly used the confidential dossiers for manufacturing drugs in India in violation of licensing agreements limited to Canada. The Court rejected the appellants’ plea of non-compliance with Section 12-A of the Commercial Courts Act, observing that the suit sought urgent interim reliefs in respect of continuing infringement.
On jurisdiction, the Court ruled that since the primary relief sought pertained to copyright infringement, the Commercial Court at Gautam Budh Nagar had territorial jurisdiction under Section 62 of the Copyright Act. The Bench further noted that the defendants’ use of Jubilant’s proprietary dossiers within India was unauthorized and caused irreparable harm to Jubilant’s intellectual property rights, justifying continuation of the injunction.
Appearances:
Petitioner: Shashi Nandan (Sr. Adv.) with Hiren Kamod, Devansh Misra, Raghuvansh Misra, Anup Shukla, Raghav Dev Garg, Ankoosh Mehta, Advait Shukla, Yashvi Agarwal
Respondent: Rahul Agarwal, Nithin Sharma, Ankit Prakash, Paritosh Joshi
