Delhi High Court
Sap Se vs Anoop Tech And Ors. on 12 April, 2022
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:DEVANSHU JOSHI
Signing Date:19.04.2022
00:42:23
$~15
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of Decision: 12th April, 2022
+ CS (COMM) 528/2020 & I.A. 11267/2020
SAP SE ..... Plaintiff
Through: Mr. Ranjan Narula, Advocate.
(M:9891584230)
versus
ANOOP TECH AND ORS. ..... Defendants
Through: Mr. Kunal Khanna, Advocate for D-1.
(M9999757185)
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
Prathiba M. Singh, J.(Oral)
1.
This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.
2. The present suit for permanent injunction has been filed by the
Plaintiff- SAP SE. The Plaintiff is a company engaged in providing SAP
solutions, implementation, post-implementation support, training and
certification for various customers and partners in India through its
subsidiary- SAP India Private Limited. The Plaintiff is stated to have
extensive business in India and has development centres in many prominent
cities including Delhi. It is stated to have more than 1 lakh employees and
serves lakhs of customers in more than 180 countries in the world. The
Plaintiff provides various end-to-end software application solutions to its
customers. One such application is SAP Business Suite which optimises all
business-critical processes and it includes SAP ERP. Some of its ERP
android software applications are used across industries for resource
planning, customer relationship management, supply chain and supplier
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:DEVANSHU JOSHI
Signing Date:19.04.2022
00:42:23
relationship management. The Plaintiff has various IT products which are
extremely popular, some of which are:
a) SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning);
b) SAP CRM (Customer Relationship
Management);
c) SAP PLM (Product Lifecycle
Management);
d) SAP SCM (Supply Chain Management);
e) SAP SRM (Supplier Relationship
Management).
3. The software applications of the Plaintiff are sold under the name and
mark 'SAP' with different module numbers and versions from time to time.
The Plaintiff's software requires trained software professionals, who are able
to load, execute, access, service, employ and display integrated end-to-end
solutions derived from such software products for the client. The Plaintiff
has, accordingly, appointed some companies as training partners for training
personnel on SAP software.
4. The Plaintiff is the copyright owner of the various software
programmes, such as SAP HANA, SAP CRM, SAP ABAP, SAP ERP 6.0,
SAP Net Weaver, SAP ERP 2005, etc. which are literary works within the
meaning of Sections 2(ffc) & 2(o) of the Copyright Act, 1957. The Plaintiff
also owns the 'SAP' trademark and various variants of the same. After
adoption of the mark 'SAP' in 1972, it has become one of the most
distinctive brands in the world, especially in the area of software products
and services. The Plaintiff has registered the 'SAP' word mark vide
application bearing no. 578462 from 1992.
5. The Defendant No.1- Anoop Tech is an entity which started offering
classroom and online coaching/ training of SAP courses on its website
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:DEVANSHU JOSHI
Signing Date:19.04.2022
00:42:23
www.anooptech.net and www.anooptech.com. On its website, various
'SAP' logos are being used. SAP copyright protected training materials and
software were used by Defendant No.1 for the purpose of providing training
on SAP products/services. Tools such as interactive websites, live demos,
cloud platforms etc. were also used by Defendant No.1. 'SAP' trade marks
were being used on the website/social media platforms in such a manner as
though Defendant No.1 was connected to the Plaintiff. A list or SAP courses
provided by Defendant No.1 from the website is as under:
6. On 27th May, 2020, the Plaintiff sent a cease-and-desist notice asking
Defendant No.1 to cease from unauthorisedly offering any SAP online
courses. The Defendant No.1 vide reply dated 11th June, 2020 confirmed that
it is in the process of taking down the infringing content. Despite the said
reply, it is the case of the Plaintiff that the said infringing content re-
appeared on the website and telephonic communications were also of no
avail. This led to the filing of the present suit.
7. The matter was considered on 1st December, 2020 and the Defendant
No.1 was restrained in the following terms:
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:DEVANSHU JOSHI
Signing Date:19.04.2022
00:42:23
"10. Consequently, an ex-parte ad-interim injunction is
granted in favour of the plaintiff and against the
defendants in terms of prayer (a) of IA 11267/2020 till
the next date of hearing before this Court. The
defendant No. 1 is also restrained from putting up the
infringing contents in relation to the plaintiffs
trademarks and copyright on its websites
www.anooptech.net and www.anooptech.com or any
other website(s) created or on third party
websites/platforms. The defendant No. 1 is further
restrained in terms of prayer (c) of the application. The
defendant No. 1 is directed to remove its
listing/advertisements of the SAP courses in terms of
prayer (f) in the application within 36 hours of the
receipt of this order, failing which, the defendant Nos.
3, 4 and 5 are directed to take down/de-
activate/disable the access to the websites and domain
names as prayed in para (e) of the application on an
intimation being given by the plaintiff within 72 hours
of the said intimation."
8. The Defendant Nos.3 & 4 are the registering authorities of two
domain names www.anooptech.com and www.anooptech.net. The
Defendant No.5 is the website hosting company of these two websites. No
written statement has been filed by any of the parties.
9. On behalf of Defendant No.1, Mr. Kunal Khanna, ld. Counsel, has
appeared and submits that he has instructions from Mr. Manjunatha K
Krishnappa (M:9980594800), who is stated to be the proprietor of
Defendant No.1 - Anoop Tech, that Defendant No.1 is willing to suffer a
decree in this matter and that the websites have been taken down. It is
further submitted that Defendant No.1 does not intend to use the mark 'SAP'
or offer training courses with respect to SAP software.
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
By:DEVANSHU JOSHI
Signing Date:19.04.2022
00:42:23
10. In any event, after perusing the record, it is clear that the use of the
word or mark 'SAP' either as a part of the trading style, domain name or the
services offered by the Defendant No.1, even though they relate to 'SAP'
software, would be violative of the Plaintiff's rights, both under the statute
and the common law. The manner of usage by the Defendant no.1 is neither
descriptive nor informational and constitutes trade mark use. Accordingly,
the suit is decreed in terms of paragraphs 45(a) to 45(c) of the plaint against
the Defendant No.1.
11. Defendant No.2- Ashok Kumar is a non-existent entity. Defendant
Nos.3 & 4 are the Registrars of the domain names. Since the domain names
www.anooptech.net and www.anooptech.com do not have relationship with
the mark 'SAP', no relief can be granted. Insofar as Defendant No. 5 is
concerned, since the infringing content has been pulled down, no further
orders are required to be passed, so long as the infringing content is not re-
hosted on the said websites/domain names.
12. Considering the fact that Defendant No.1 has not filed the written
statement and has not contested the matter, a sum of Rs.2 lakhs is awarded
as costs in the suit. The same shall be paid by the Defendant No.1 within 8
weeks, failing which the Plaintiff is free to take steps to recover the same in
accordance with law.
13. The suit is decreed in the above terms. Decree sheet be drawn
accordingly.
14. The suit, along with all pending applications, is disposed of.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH, J.
APRIL 12, 2022/dk/sk
(Corrected & released on 16th April, 2022)
