HC restrains firm from infringing copyright of Mankind Pharma

The Delhi High Court has restrained a pharmaceutical firm from infringing the copyright of Mankind Pharma in the contents of its website.

Justice Prathiba M Singh said considering the evidence and the content of the website of Lee Pharmaceuticals of Lee House being identical, a permanent injunction is liable to be granted in favour of plaintiff Mankind Pharma Ltd and against the defendant.

"...a permanent injunction is liable to be granted in favour of the plaintiff against the defendant restraining the defendant from in any manner infringing the copyright of the plaintiff in the contents of its website www.mankindpharma.com. Further, the defendant is also restrained from passing off its business as being affiliated to that of the plaintiff. The suit is accordingly, decreed..," the court said.

Mankind Pharma said it was selling various medicinal preparations and over the counter drugs (OTCs) and has various domain names registered in its name with the mark 'MANKIND', however, its main website is www.mankindpharma.com.

It said that Lee Pharmaceuticals was incorporated in 2013 and the plaintiff came to know in February 2014, that the defendant has a website www.leepharmaceuticals.in.

A perusal of the website revealed that the entire website, including the photographs, images, etc. of the plaintiff has been copied by the defendant, it said.

As no one appeared for the defendant firm even after being served with the notice, the court proceeded ex-parte.

After going through the screenshots of the websites of both the companies, the court said use of such identical content is not only infringement of the plaintiff's copyright but could also lead to misrepresentation that the defendant is either affiliated to, or is a group company of the plaintiff.