Novartis AG & Anr vs Novaegis (India) Private Limited

C.Hari Shankar, J

CS(COMM) 86/2023 & I.A. 3659/2023

The plaintiff, in the present suit, alleged infringement, by the defendant, of the  registered trademark of the plaintiff by use of the defendant’s .

By order dated 20th February 2023, ad interim interlocutory reliefs were granted by this Court. While issuing summons in the suit and notice in the application filed by the plaintiff in I.A. 3130/2023 filed by the plaintiff under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC).

Subsequently, the parties have arrived at an amicable resolution of the dispute between them. They have placed on record an undertaking dated 24th February 2023, signed by Mr. Chauhan Mohmad Moshin, director of the defendant, whereby the defendant has agreed to suffer a decree of injunction in terms of prayers b to d in para 47 of the plaint and to undertake as under:

“The Defendant acknowledges the intellectual property rights of the Plaintiffs in the trade mark/trade name NOVARTIS, as well as the exclusive right of the Plaintiffs to use the said mark as a trade mark/trade name/house mark/corporate name in relation to its goods and services.

The Defendant further undertakes to file appropriate request with the Trade Marks Registry for withdrawal of its trade mark application no. 4222559 for the mark NOVAEGIS/ within 1 week of this undertaking. The said trade mark application shall be deemed to withdrawn.

The Defendant has confirmed that it has not filed any other trade mark, copyright or trade name applications before any concerned authority for the word/name/mark NOVAEGIS either by itself or part thereof, nor it has filed any such application containing word/name/mark which may be deceptively similar to the trade mark/trade name/corporate name NOVARTIS of the Plaintiffs.

The Defendant undertakes that it shall not use the mark NOVAEGIS/ or any other mark as a domain name/trade mark/trade name/part of the corporate name in future as may be phonetically, visually, and structurally deceptively similar to the trade mark/trade name NOVARTIS of the Plaintiffs.

The Defendant undertakes to file appropriate application seeking change of its company name Novaegis (India) Private Limited before the Registrar of Companies within 7 days from the date of this undertaking under intimation to the Plaintiffs’ or its counsel about the changed company name/mark adopted by the Defendant and undertakes that the company name containing the impugned mark NOVAEGIS shall not remain on Register of the Company beyond 7 days from the signing of this undertaking nor it shall be used in future “earlier known as Novaegis”.

The Defendant undertakes that it shall not adopt any trade mark/domain name/trade name or company name which may be visually, phonetically or structurally deceptively similar to the Plaintiffs’ trade marks/trade name NOVARTIS.

The Defendant undertakes and agrees that it shall dispose of the existing stock of medicines bearing the mark NOVAEGIS/ having the value of INR 24,97,517.69 as detailed in para 6 of the I.A. No. 3659 of 2023 within 60 days from the date of this undertaking.

The Defendant undertakes that the products bearing the mark NOVAEGIS/ already in circulation in the market are as per the following details including batch number, date of manufacture and expiry date with the sale value of the product.

Product Name

Batch

Mfg

Exp

Qty

Sale Value

AEZOR ASP 150 CAP

MC22908

Jul-22

'08/24

7020

98280

AEZOR ASP 75 CAPS

NIPL2EZ01

Jun-22

'07/24

18780

201885

AEZOR ASP 75 CAPS

NIPL2EZ02

Sep-22

'10/24

19290

206403

AEZORE GOLD 10 CAPS

MC21639

Jun-21

'07/23

10110

131430

AEZORE GOLD 10 CAPS

MC221014

Aug-22

'09/24

10040

145580

BACTOXIME 200 DT

TAB

CT22241G

Sep-22

'10/24

4960

156240

CETNYX 5 TAB

T-22067

Apr-22

'05/24

4930

21199

CETNYX M TAB

AT-21302C

Oct-21

'11/23

5660

56600

CETNYX M TAB

AT-22181A

May-

22

'06/24

5640

56400

ESCIFRESH LC TAB

MT214496

Aug-21

'09/23

10000

68000

ESCIFRESH LC TAB

MT225740

Oct-22

'11/24

10130

87118

ESCIFRESH PLUS 10

TAB

MT214495B

Aug-21

'09/23

10040

86344

ESCIFRESH PLUS 10

TAB

MT224919

Aug-22

'09/24

10050

75375

ESCIFRESH PLUS 5 TAB

MT222249

Mar-22

'04/24

10190

61140

GOUTLESS 40 TAB

T211426R

Aug-21

'09/23

2870

25830

GOUTLESS 40 TAB

T222016

Sep-22

'10/24

4950

44550

ITRAGIS 100 CAP

C-22014

May-

22

'06/24

2310

51924.18

ITRAGIS PURE 100MG

ITR2201

Dec-21

'01/24

4900

222313

LEVEPREX-500

TABLETS

T221764

Aug-22

'09/24

4980

92130

LEVEPREX-500

TABLETS

T222254

Oct-22

'11/24

9970

169490

MEDRIX 16 TAB

T210600

Apr-21

'05/23

5580

103230

MEDRIX 8 TAB

T220826

May-

22

'06/24

4970

59640

MEDRIX 8 TAB

T221649

Aug-22

'09/24

9880

108680

NEBIZEST 2.5 TAB

T220823

May-

22

'06/24

4980

39840

NEBIZEST 5 TAB

T222242

Oct-22

'11/24

9840

108240

NEBIZEST AM TAB

T221624

Aug-22

'09/24

9940

124250

NEOMYLIN 2ML INJ

22LJ10B

Oct-22

'03/24

20000

85000

NEOMYLIN 2ML INJ

22LL01F

Dec-22

'05/24

20000

60000

NEOMYLIN D TAB

NIPL2ND02

Nov-22

'04/24

19300

463200

NOVAGLIM M1

TABLET

293AA02

Aug-22

'09/24

3410

44500.5

NOVAGLIM M1

TABLET

293AA02

Aug-22

'09/24

3130

40846.5

NOVAGLIM M2

TABLET

293AB02

May-

22

'06/24

5590

77142

NOVAGLIM MV 1.3 TAB

NIPL1NV01

May-

21

'06/23

9150

143655

NOVAGLIM MV 1.3 TAB

NIPL2NV01

Aug-22

'09/24

9080

142556

NOVAGLIM MV 2.3 TAB

NIPL2NG01

May-

22

'06/24

8850

137175

NOVAGLIM MV 2.3 TAB

NIPL2NG02

Sep-22

'10/24

9000

127800

NOVAGLIM MV 2.3 TAB

NIPL2NG03

Sep-22

'10/24

9900

140580

PEPFREE 20 TAB

MOT22387

Sep-22

'10/24

9640

60732

PEPFREE ED CAP

AC-22085A

May-

22

'06/24

5680

62480

PEPFREE ED CAP

AC-22152A

Oct-22

'11/24

5470

57435

PULMOZEST TAB

T222402

Nov-22

'12/24

4950

126225

ROZUNIX 10 TABLETS

T212567

Dec-21

'01/24

4970

39760

ROZUNIX 10 TABLETS

T222279

Oct-22

'11/24

4960

39680

ROZUNIX 20 TABLET

T221950

Sep-22

'10/24

4980

54780

ROZUNIX 5 TABLETS

T210063

Feb-21

'03/23

4900

29400

ROZUNIX 5 TABLETS

T-22239

Dec-22

'01/25

2950

20650

ROZUNIX GOLD 10

CAPS

MC21669

Jul-21

'08/23

10160

213360

TELGIS 40 TABLETS

T211887

Oct-21

'11/23

9980

64870

TELGIS 40 TABLETS

WTGS322001

Sep-22

'10/25

14700

117600

TELGIS AM TABLETS

NIPL2GT01

Dec-21

'01/24

9440

88736

TELGIS AM TABLETS

NIPL2TG02

Oct-22

'11/24

9280

87232

TELGIS CH 40 TAB

T221918

Sep-22

'10/24

4710

47100

TELGIS M 25 TAB

MT213234

Jun-21

'07/23

10040

80320

TELGIS M 25 TAB

MT224392

Jul-22

'08/24

9980

95808

TELGIS M 50 TAB

MT214509B

Aug-21

'09/23

10120

91080

TELGIS M 50 TAB

MT230546

Dec-22

'12/24

10130

103326

TELGIS TRIO TABLETS

NIPL2TR01

Jan-22

'02/24

9250

95275

TELGIS TRIO TABLETS

NIPL2TR02

Oct-22

'11/24

9050

103170

TENYZ 20 TABLET

T211272

Jul-21

'08/23

9900

64350

TENYZ M 500 TAB

T211338

Jul-21

'08/23

4900

53900

TENYZ M 500 TAB

T222737

Dec-22

'01/25

4970

57155

ULTRAMEXX TAB

41UTA22002

Aug-22

'09/24

12990

126652.5

XECTUS 50 TAB

BD22085N

Dec-21

'01/24

9120

100320

XECTUS 50 TAB

BD23197A

Sep-22

'10/24

9800

102900

XECTUS M 500 TAB

BD22694D

May-

22

'06/24

9850

144795

XECTUS M 500 TAB

BD23211C

Sep-22

'10/24

9790

141955

ZESTIER 50 TAB

T220789

May-

22

'06/24

9910

158560

ZESTIER M 500 TAB

T220813

May-

22

'06/24

4940

177840

The Defendant further undertakes that the new stock of medicine having the value of INR 4,65,000 as detailed in para 6 of the I.A. No. 3659 of 2023 admittedly manufactured in January 2023 shall not be released in the market bearing the injuncted mark/trade name/corporate name NOVAEGIS/ .”

The plaintiff through Ms. Mamta Rani Jha, learned Counsel has agreed, in view of the aforesaid undertaking, to forego its claim for damages and costs.

As such, nothing survives for adjudication in the suit.

The suit shall stand decreed in terms of the afore-noted undertaking submitted by the defendant by which the defendant shall remain bound.

Let a decree sheet be issued accordingly. The plaintiff would be entitled to refund of the Court fees, if any, deposited by it.

Pending applications stand disposed of accordingly.