Dutch firm wins patent suit

The Delhi High Court has held that an Indian firm had violated the patent of a Dutch corporation and ordered compensation. Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V alleged that it was a global corporation with a large number of patents in the field of electronics. It alleged that Mangalam Technology and associated companies infringed upon its patent In DVD and decoding technology and demanded compensation. The lndian firms maintained that major components of the DVD players were procured from authorised licensees like Sony, MediaTek, Sanyo and ST Micro from China after due payment of all the taxes and customs duties.

They insisted that they had not violated the patent law. It was argued that the Dutch corporation was indulging in abuse ‘of its dominant ‘position as it was prosecuting them though there are as many as 35 manufacturers of DVD players according to that corporation. Rejecting the contentions of the Indian firms, the High Court held them guilty of the violation of patent law and ruled that the Dutch firm was entitled to royalty and the guilty company must pay punitive damages. There was no injunction as the patent had already expired.