Sulphur Mills Limited v. Sulphur Crop Care Pvt. Ltd. & Ors.

1. The present suit stands settled between the plaintiff and Defendant 1. I.A. 12170/2023 (under Order XXIII Rule 3 of the CPC)

2. The suit is already decreed qua Defendant 2 and Mr. Sanuj Das, learned Counsel for the plaintiff, submits that efforts are underway to attempt settlement of the dispute with Defendant 3 as well.

3. By this application, the plaintiff prays that suit may be decreed qua Defendant 1 in terms of settlement executed with it.

4. The terms of settlement, as set out in para 3 of the application, read thus: “i. The term "PRODUCT" shall mean Sulphur 90% WDG Product manufactured and sold by Defendant No. 1 in bulk; ii. The Defendant No. 1 consents and confirms the proprietary right vested with the Plaintiff over the Plaintiffs patented agricultural composition which is the subject matter of Indian Patent No. 282429 and herein agree and accept the rights of the Plaintiff in the suit Patent and acknowledge the validity thereof; iii. The Defendant No. 1 undertakes that it will not directly or indirectly challenge or assist any third party to challenge the validity of Indian Patent No. 282429 during its term; iv. The Defendant No. 1 either by themselves or through their partners, directors, group companies, associates, divisions, assigns in business, licensees, franchisees, agents, officers, servants, 1distributors and dealers, undertake not to manufacture, sell, distribute, advertise, offer to sell, import, export, directly or indirectly deal either in Brand or Bulk in Plaintiff's patented agricultural composition which is the subject matter of Indian Patent No. 282429 or any other agricultural composition as may amount to infringement of Indian Patent No. 282429; v. The Defendant No. 1 states and confirms that until the date of filing of the present suit, it has only manufactured and or sold a total quantity of around 300 MT of the PRODUCT in bulk; vi. In lieu of past sales as mentioned in paragraph 2 (v), the Defendant No. 1 undertakes to pay the Plaintiff a royalty to the tune of Rs. 17/Kg which amounts to INR 51, 00, 000/as a cumulative onetime charge towards the past sales of the product by Defendant No. 1. and settle the matter amicably; The Defendant No. 1 undertakes to pay the said amount as per the following schedule: i. INR 11,00,000/- to be paid at the time of execution of the agreement ii. INR 40,00,000/- to be paid within 25 days of the execution of this consent term. vii. The Plaintiff agrees that upon fulfilment of the foregoing obligation of the Defendant No. 1, agrees to forego prayer clause under paragraph no. 76 (ii) to (v); viii. The Parties confirm that pursuant to the consent terms as outlined hereinabove, there shall be no issues outstanding between the Parties and the matter remains settled; ix. The Parties hereby affirm and acknowledge that they have read all the above-mentioned terms. The Parties further affirm that they understand the meaning of the terms and their effect. The Parties represent that they entered into this settlement freely and voluntarily without any coercion or undue pressure.”

5. Learned Counsel for the parties are present and undertake, on behalf of their respective clients, to remain bound by the terms of settlement.

6. This Court has perused the terms of settlement and found them to be lawful and in order.

7. As such, nothing survives for adjudication in the present suit qua Defendant 1.

8. The suit, therefore, stands decreed vis-a-vis Defendant 1 in terms of the afore-noted terms of settlement.

9. Let a decree-sheet be drawn up accordingly by the Registry.

10. The plaintiff shall be entitled to refund of court fees, if any, deposited by it.

11. I.A. 12170/2023 stands disposed of.

C. HARI SHANKAR, J.