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Informist, Tuesday, Apr. 15, 2025

 

--SC OKs order for fresh trial in Inox India suit against Cryogas Equipment 

--CONTEXT: Inox India filed copyright suit against Cryogas Equipment 

--CONTEXT: Inox India suit relates to design of cryogenic storage tank 

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld an order by the Gujarat High Court for a fresh trial in the copyright suit filed by INOX India Ltd. against Cryogas Equipment Pvt. Ltd., LNG Express Pvt. Ltd. In its copyright suit, INOX India alleged that Cryogas Equipment and LNG Express had copied the entire design relating to cryogenic storage tank and distribution for which it had done research and development.

 

In 2018, INOX India had filed a suit in the Vadodara court to restrain Cryogas Equipment and LNG Express from infringing its "proprietary engineering drawings" of cryogenic storage tanks and distribution system. INOX India had claimed damages of INR 20 million rupees from Cryogas Equipment and LNG Express for the infringement of its copyright. INOX India had argued that "proprietary engineering drawings" of cryogenic storage tanks and distribution systems were drawings that fell within the ambit of a "design" under the Designs Act, 2000. 

 

Cryogas Equipment and LNG Express said the "proprietary engineering drawings" of cryogenic storage tanks and distribution system was "design capable of being registered" under the Designs Act and without getting it registered, the design had been applied to manufacture and sell cryogenic semitrailers. The same design had now been produced more than 50 times by the industrial process and, hence, INOX India, which claimed to be the owner of the design, couldn't seek protection under the Copyrights Act by virtue of section 15(2) of the Copyright Act, Cryogas Equipment and LNG Express said. 

 

In 2024, the Vadodara court had dismissed INOX India's suit on the grounds that it was not tenable by virtue of section 15(2) of the Copyright Act. Challenging this, INOX India had moved the high court, which had rejected the Vadodara court's order and directed for a fresh trial in the case.

 

At 1150 IST, shares of INOX India were up 1.2% at INR 1,009.40 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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