The High Court of Delhi on 24.12.2020 comprising of a single bench of Justice Mukta Gupta while allowing a decree of injunction alleging violation of their confidential data, copyright, report and trade secret as also for delivery up, damages and rendition of accounts directed the defendants to take down the contents on their website and also to restrain from commercializing their App, if they have not already commercialized the same. (AUTH TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD. & ANR. v. SAWOLABS TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD. & ORS)
The present suit has been filed by the plaintiffs, inter alia, seeking a decree of injunction against the defendants alleging violation of their confidential data, copyright, report and trade secret as also for delivery up, damages and rendition of accounts.
The plaintiffs had an idea of creating an App which did not require a password access and in this regard, plaintiffs associated defendant No. 2 as an investor. The defendant No. 2 had represented to the plaintiff No. 2 that he had a good startup which he had sold and had number of ideas besides experience therein. Based on the defendant No.2’s representation, the plaintiffs shared some documents of the plaintiffs with the defendant No.2 i.e. (i) Product brief containing its stage-wise development schedule; (ii) Prototype of the Application; (iii) Detailed project report; (iv) Survey report conducted by the plaintiffs and (v) Technical proposals of I.T. vendors containing the architectural design of the App in question.
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The plaintiffs thus claimed the copyright in serial numbers (i) to (iv) mentioned hereinbefore as also rights in the confidential data which have been breached by the defendants by putting up the same on their website and commercially exploiting the same. The plaintiffs, on pages 63-64 of the plaint show that the architectural drawing which was transmitted by plaintiff No.2 to defendant No.2 is exactly the same as that which was transmitted as is evident from the defendant No.2’s website noted on page 64 of the plaint.
The learned counsel for the plaintiffs also submitted that after the advance copy of the plaint was served, defendant No.2 removed the architectural drawing from its website.
Learned counsel for the defendants firstly states that the plaintiffs neither have the copyright nor any rights in the confidential data, for the reason, the copyright and the confidential data belonged to the venders in respect to the architectural drawings. Secondly, the project was prepared by one of the interns of the plaintiffs and thirdly, the App which the plaintiffs wanted to start was already existing in U.S. and the plaintiffs were thus copying the same App and there was nothing new so that copyright could inhere on the plaintiffs.
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The Court noted "considering the fact that the report of the defendant No.2 launching its website as also its App appeared on 12th November, 2020, deems it fit to grant a short time to the defendants to file the reply. Consequently, the reply affidavit be filed within ten days. Rejoinder affidavit be filed within four days thereafter."
The court ordered "In the meantime, the defendants are directed to take down the contents on their website from pages 38 to 60 as noted in the plaint. The defendants are also restrained from commercializing their App, if they have not already commercialized the same. Along with the reply affidavit, the defendants will also place on record documents evidencing the date from which the App was commercialized, if already commercialized and the statements of accounts thereof."
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The matter will be next heard on 11th January 2021.
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