Delhi High Court Swings to Support of Dolby Sound Patents

· 24 Courts Commissioners Raid Mobile Manufacturers across India to Seize Patent Infringing Stocks and Records

· Xiomi, Oppo, Gionee, Videocon, Optimus Mobile factories under Attack

The Courts are now active in enforcing the patents by giving ex parte orders to be enforced within ten days by Courts Commissioners paid by the patent holders.

On 20 October, Judge Rajiv Sahai Endlaw passed a common order on a string of five petitions filed by the San Francisco based Dolby International on the infringement of its four noise reduction patents. The case was argued by a battery of the best lawyers who pleaded before the judge that the ISO standard claimed in the mobile phones could only be achieved by using the four Dolby patents. The Judge passed the orders to seize the offending stocks and also related books on the same day. The order was issued ex-parte, that is, the manufacturers were not given a chance to defend themselves from the patent infringement charges.

The Court also appointed 24 lawyers who will service as commissioners having enforcement powers. They are tasked with raiding the manufacturers premises located across India to seize all stocks bearing the ISO mark for sound quality. Each commissioner will be paid one lakh rupees by Dolby, apart from out of pocket expenses on travel and stay. The local police has been ordered to assist the commissioners in conducting the raids.

The Government of India too was asked to stop the patent infringing import by instructing the customs ports to detain or confiscate parts or mobile which use the four Dolby sound patents. The field formations will in the ports will detain all imports by or on behalf of the named parties. Other imports too will be affected as they come under the infringement shadow.

The manufacturers are in a fix since there operations are disrupted by the sudden developments. All of them import the sound systems on their mobiles from China, hence the patent infringement did not take place in India.

The patent office in India as well as the DIPP and the Ministry of Electronics maintains an army of officials who are supposed to manage the patent system. However, a workable system for FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory terms) patents where the user pays a reasonable fee is far away. Even patent enforcement is routinely carried out at the customs border to support the original holders outside India even though the WTO TRIPS exempts Developing Countries like India from enforcement. Only the Courts have the power to adjudicate infringement after hearing both sides.

Next hearing is slated for 23 November. However, the ground is already tilted against Indian manufacturers who are facing the Court organised raids.

-ABS News Service-