Close on the heels of what might turn out to be India’s first “patent” murder, SpicyIP just learnt that Micromax has obtained an interim declaratory order against Ramkumar in a high profile patent infringement matter.I will bring you more details once I have a copy of this judgment. The interim court order apparently declares that Micromax does not infringe Ramkumar’s patent.
Recall our earlier post, where we assessed the patent and opined as below:
“….the patent does not cover all “Dual SIM phones” (as Dual SIM technology itself has been around and is part of the prior art), but only those Dual SIM phones that also provide for more than one headphone/earphone jack, so that two people can be on two calls at the same time via the same handset. However, most of the goods seized by customs (consisting of both Samsung’s products and a number of other imports belonging to several Indian importers) appear to be generic Dual SIM phones with just one headphone/earphone jack. In other words, the patentee is attempting to claim rights over technology that is part of the prior art and clearly outside the scope of his patent.”
This ruling by the Gurgaon court will certainly impact other ongoing litigations, most noteably the Madras High Court proceedings.
Given Ramkumar’s extortionary tactics and blatant mispresentation of the scope of his claims, one wonders what consequences are likely to befall him after a court calls his bluff and finds against him. Will he have to return all these monies collected? It would appear that a good legal arugment can be made that he ought to return all these monies wrongly collected.
On another note, we are given to believe that hearings between the various parties involved in this saga have been going on before customs authorities in the various metros, including Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. I’m not sure if any of these authorities have issued any written decisions in this regard and would be happy to hear from any of our readers in the know. Apparently, the Chennai customs authorities appear to now suspect Ramkumar’s case, as they are no longer blocking any dual SIM cell phone imports.
Further, on a related note, we are given to understand that the Samsung writ petition challenging the constitiutonality of the customs rules had not been refiled in the Delhi High Court. Now that Samsung appears to be getting a favourable response from the customs authorities, they may be hesitant in taking on such authorities in a writ petition.
Lastly, as we continue to explore the legalities of this case, the “murky” murder side of this case continues to be investigated. A friend of mine sent me a rough gist of a news item that appeared in a Tamil daily, Dinakaran (caveat: the translation and encapsulation of the gist may not be entirely accurate):
“Vikas systems, in which both Ramkumar and Diwakaran (the deceased) were partners, was collecting payments from the importers of dual SIM phones.
It appears that of the moneys collected, Ramkumar and his lawyer, Mr.Ferdinand would get 60%, and Vikas system would get 40%.
After Ramkumar and his lawyer had procured the Madras High Court order, they did not need the help of Vikas systems or Diwakaran anymore. And therefore refused to share the 40% with him. This might have been the basis of a dispute between the parties.”
