Gemalto Terminals India Pvt. Ltd & Ors. ...Defendants Through : Mr. Sanjay Jain, Sr. Adv. with Ms. Charu Mehta, Ms. Deepali Liberahn and Ms. Prabsahay Kaur, Advs. for D1 Mr. Jagdish Sagar, Adv. for D2 Mr. Adhip Iyer and Mr. Praveen Aggarwal, Advs. for D3 Reserved on : November 25, 2009 Decided on : December 8, 2009 HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANMOHAN SINGH 1. Whether the Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes 2. To be referred to Reporter or not? Yes 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Yes MANMOHAN SINGH, J. 1. The present suit has been filed by the plaintiff for a decree of declaration, perpetual injunction and rendition of accounts. The suit was listed before this court on 7th October, 2009. On that date, this court granted ex parte ad interim injunction restraining the defendants, their assigns, licensees, agents, contractors, employees from in any manner infringing the copyright of the plaintiff in the software known as Version CS (OS) No. 1876/2009 Page 1 of 33 1.03 for the IOCL Fleet Card Program, from reproducing the work in any material form and also from creating any third party interest in the said Version, whether in India or overseas. 2. On filing of an application being I.A. No. 13130/2009 by defendant no. 1 under Order XXXIX Rule 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 which was listed before this court on 9th October, 2009, the interim injunction was modified, with the consent of the plaintiff, to the following extent : "It is clarified that till further orders the order dated 7th October, 2009 shall not come in the way of the defendant no. 1 continuing to provide services to the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. Fleet Card Program by use of the software known as version 1.03 or its variant or updated or modified version or in the same manner as the defendant no. 1 has been providing till now." 3. Thereafter, defendant no. 1 filed a suit being CS (OS) No. 2091/2009 praying for the reliefs of permanent and mandatory injunction, declaration of ownership of copyright and damages for breach of contract. With the consent of all the parties, I heard the interim applications in both cases together. 4. By this order, I shall dispose of I.A. No. 12825/2009 filed by the plaintiff under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2, I.A. No. 13030/2009 filed by defendant no. 1 under Order XXXIX Rule 4 and I.A. No. 14570/2009 filed by the defendant no. 3 under Order 1 Rule 10 (2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 respectively. 5. Brief facts of the case are that the plaintiff is a software company duly incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. Defendant CS (OS) No. 1876/2009 Page 2 of 33 no. 1 is also duly incorporated and it provides computer hardware terminals to retail establishments. Defendant no. 2 is a bank which also engages in installing Fleet Card System for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (hereinafter referred to as „HPCL‟). Defendant no. 3 is a company appointed by defendant no. 1 to modify and adapt the plaintiff‟s software. 6. It is submitted that the plaintiff was approached in 2003 by defendant no. 1 Gemalto Terminals India Pvt. Ltd. (previously named „Axalto‟) to develop/write certain software and manage the operation of the Fleet Card Program proposed for Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as „IOCL‟). As per the plaintiff, it had previously written software programs for defendant no. 1 in two matters. With regard to the present software, a work order dated 17th November, 2003 was issued by defendant no. 1 to the plaintiff wherein it was mentioned that not only would the plaintiff develop the requisite software but would also provide services for implementation of the system, including providing and maintaining server related hardware etc. 7. The plaintiff then developed Version 1.