Bombay HC imposes exemplary costs on IPR infringement

In the case of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation vs. Kishor D Jain and Anr, The petitioner filled a case against the defendants when a complaint was received by the former by Yanbu Steel Company which is a company based in Saudi Arabia.

In their complaint the trading company mentioned in their complaint about the quality of some Carbon Seamless Pipes which were to be used in oil plants. The company also informed the former that the defendants falsely induced the Yanbu company to believe that these pipes were manufactured by Nippon but in reality the pipes were manufactured by a third party manufacturer . Also the defendants affixed the Nippon Steel’s trademark and provided forged certificates of using their name and inducing the Yanbu company to believe that Nippon was the actual producer of those pipes.

Justice J.S Kathawalia quoted Mahatma Gandhi ” there is a sufficiency in the world for man’s needs but not for man’s greed” Bombay HC observed that pipes should be of good quality this is not a luxury but a necessity , if pipes in oil plants do not meet certain prescribed requirements or standards there is a room for accidents and disasters with no one taking responsibility of it.

The Bombay High Court took a deterrent view to send out message to all other potential offenders to not to repeat such offences, the court decided to deal with the matter with strict view and angry eye and imposed whopping amount of Rs. 5 crores on the defendants. The said amount was to be paid to Tata Memorial Hospital, a charitable organisation based in Mumbai.