India - Delhi High Court formalized injunction in 3M’s Patent Suit

In a recent decision of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, delivered on September 19, 2016, an injunction was granted in favour of 3M Innovative Properties Ltd. (the Appellant) thereby preventing Venus Safety and Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. (the Respondent) from manufacturing medical/surgical masks that allegedly infringe 3M’s patent. The order delivered by the Division Bench, granting the injunction can be accessed here.

The patent in dispute was Indian Patent No. 211175 titled “Flat Fold Personal Respiratory Protection Devices and process for preparing the same”. The Respondent infringed 3M’s patent by selling medical/surgical masks, against which 3M obtained an interim injunction by way of order dated December 19, 2013. Thereafter, in 2014, the interim injunction order was vacated by Learned Single Judge on the basis of three prior art citations holding that they disclose the essential features used by Venus’ product.

Thereafter 3M appealed against the order of the Learned Single Judge, contending that the Learned Single Judge erred in considering the prior art citations in terms of technical advancement on the subject matter of 3M’s patent and erroneously held that the technical advancement in 3M’s patent is obvious to the person skilled in trade.

In the present appeal, the Division Bench accepted the contentions of the A

ppellant (3M) holding that the Learned Single Judge erroneously arrived at the conclusion by combining that the three prior art citations teach the element of 3M’s patent in dispute. Accordingly, the order of the lower Court dated December 19, 2013 was upheld till the disposal of the suit.