Pune based Sudarshan Chemical Industries, producer of performance colorants & effect pigments, has won an appeal in the European Courts against German Chemicals major Clariant.
The Court of Appeal, London has dismissed an appeal raised by Clariant Produkte (Deutschland) GmbH and awarded costs & damages for wrongful threatsto Sudarshan.
The appeal was in relation to an earlier judgment of the High Court of Justice in favour of Sudarshan. In terms of the earlier judgment, the court held that Sudarshan's product, Sudafast Yellow 132, did not infringe Clariant's patent; ordered an inquiry into damages and awarded the costs of the action to Sudarshan.
"Rajesh Rathi, head, pigment division, Sudarshan Chemicals said, "We understand that this is the first time that an Indian company has challenged a European Patent in European courts. We are extremely happy that we were given a fair trial in the court of law and this victory sets an important precedent for Indian Manufacturers and may open up trade opportunities and give them the courage to challenge patents in international courts . This case shows that where a long established European company claims that an Indian manufacturer is infringing its intellectual property rights, the Indian company should not just assume that the threat is lawfully made."
The entire legal battle was conducted by Anderson Strathern, Scotland on behalf of Sudarshan.
According to Rathi, the estimated loss of turnover figure is to the tune of USD 4.8 million per year and is based on projected sales of Sudafast Yellow 132 into the countries protected by the Second Patents.
The losses are wider than simply direct customer sales because in addition to this Sudarshan had invested in a new production line to produce Sudafast Yellow 132 at its Roha facility.
Clariant had issued wrongful threats to Sudarshan's customers in Nov 2009, when Sudarshan was expanding its business and was about to enter in European market.
As Clariant has refused to agree an amicable settlement over this issue, the company has stopped promoting and selling Sudafast Yellow 132(PY191) in overseas market and in light of Clariant's unwillingness to retract their threats.
