Microsoft Corporation & Anr vs Piyush Somani & Anr
2015 Latest Caselaw 6822 Del

$~36.
*    IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+     CS(OS) 1574/2013 and I.A. 24196/2014, 12722/2013
      MICROSOFT CORPORATION & ANR               ..... Plaintiffs
                    Through: Mr. Nishchal Anand, Advocate with
                    Mr. Aman Taneja, Advocate

                        versus

      PIYUSH SOMANI & ANR                        ..... Defendants
                    Through: Ms. Manmeet Arora, Advocate with
                    Ms. Nidhi Parashar and Mr. Sarad K. Sunny,
                    Advocates
      CORAM:
      HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI

                        ORDER

% 10.09.2015

I.A. 19021/2015 (joint application u/O XXIII R 3 CPC)

1. The present compromise application has been jointly filed by the

parties stating inter alia that during the pendency of the suit, they

have been able to arrive at an out of court settlement. The terms and

conditions thereof have been set out in paras 2 to 5 of the application.

2. Counsels for the parties state that as per the settlement

recorded in the present application, the defendants have recognised

the plaintiff No.1 to be the proprietor of the trademark, "MICROSOFT"

and have undertaken that they will at no point in the future use the

said trademark in any manner whatsoever. The defendants have also

undertaken to withdraw the arbitration application filed by them before

the Nashik District Court and further undertaken to take steps to

transfer the domain name, www.microsoft.co.in in favour of the

plaintiff No.1, as recorded in the application.

3. Counsels for the parties state that in view of the undertakings

given by the defendants, the plaintiffs have agreed to pay a sum of

USD 7000 to the defendants as litigation costs that shall be deposited

in the bank account of the defendants. Counsel for the plaintiffs hands

over a draft bearing No.027572 dated 08.09.2015 drawn on Citibank,

New Delhi, for a sum of Rs.4,69,000/- to the counsel for the

defendants, which is stated to be equivalent to USD 7000. The same is

duly accepted by the counsel for the defendants. The plaintiffs have

undertaken to withdraw the Transfer Petition filed by them against the

defendants and pending in the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs have also

agreed to forgo their claim of damages, rendition of accounts, costs

etc. against the defendant.

4. At this stage, counsels for the parties state that though the

defendants have agreed to transfer the domain name,

www.microsoft.co.in in favour of the plaintiffs, but in view of the

complaint filed by the plaintiffs with the National Internet eXchange of

India (NIXI) under the .IN Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy

(INDRP), for transfer of the domain name in its favour, directions may

be issued to the NIXI to make necessary compliances.

5. The Court has perused the present application. The same has

been signed by the constituted attorney of the plaintiffs and the

authorised signatory of the defendants as also their respective

counsels and is duly supported by the affidavits of the signatories. As

counsels for the parties jointly state that their clients have arrived at

the aforesaid settlement of their own free will and volition and without

any undue influence or coercion from any quarters, there appears no

legal impediment in accepting the said settlement. The parties shall

remain bound by the terms and conditions of the settlement recorded

in the application.

6. The suit is decreed in accordance with the terms and conditions

recorded in the application, while leaving the parties to bear their own

expenses. The NIXI is directed to request the Public Domain Registry

to unlock the domain name, www.microsoft.co.in so that the same can

be handed over to the plaintiffs in terms of the settlement recorded in

the application.

7. The suit is disposed of, along with the pending applications.

8. File be consigned to the record room.

HIMA KOHLI, J SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 rkb/ap