Ms J.K. Rowling and Others vs Vikas Balwant Shukla and Others

Badar Durrez Ahmed, J.—This is an application under Order 23 Rule 3 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 filed jointly by the plaintiffs and the defendant Nos. 2 and 3 for recording of the compromise and for passing a decree in terms of paragraph 40 of the plaint in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendant Nos. 2 and 3 incorporating the terms of settlement as a part thereof. Insofar as the Defendant No. 1 is concerned, the claim of the plaintiffs has already been settled and/or compromised by virtue of an order dated 10.09.2003.

During the pendency of the proceedings against the defendants 2 and 3, the parties have arrived at a settlement and have decided to compromise and settle the entire dispute in the present suit. The broad features of the settlement are that the defendants have acknowledged the plaintiff No. 1 to be the creator and author of several original literary works under the world famous Harry Potter Series for children. The defendants have also acknowledged that they were illegally translating these works from English to Marathi. They have, however, now arrived at a settlement whereby they have undertaken not to engage in any infringing activity including causing translation of the original works without the consent and authorisation of the plaintiffs or publish works which infringes the rights of the plaintiffs and they have undertaken not to engage in any activity which may infringe the rights of the plaintiffs in relation to the trademark Harry Potter or any other title of which Harry Potter is a part of or in any other manner amounting to passing off their work as those of the plaintiffs''. The defendants have also agreed to contribute to the plaintiffs a sum of Rs. 75,000/- towards costs of the present proceedings which amount has already been paid as acknowledged by the learned counsel for the plaintiffs.

The application has been signed on behalf of the plaintiffs by Mr Anil Kumar, the constituted Attorney of the plaintiffs. It has also been signed on behalf of the defendants 2 and 3 by Mr Vinod Sonwani, who is also the defendant No. 2 himself. Mr Sonwani is the Director in the defendant No. 3 company and he is authorised to act on behalf of the defendant No. 3 by virtue of a resolution dated 14.11.2005 passed in his favor. Mr Sonwani is also present in court. The application has also been signed by the respective counsel for the parties and affidavits in support of the application have also been signed on behalf of the said Mr Anil Kumar and the said Mr Vinod Sonwani.

I have heard the counsel for the parties and have examined the terms of settlement which have been reduced to writing in the form of present application which is marked as Exhibit-C-II. I am satisfied that the settlement and/or agreement arrived at is lawful. Accordingly, I record the compromise and pass a decree in terms of paragraph 40 of the plaint in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendant Nos. 2 and 3. The terms of the settlement made in this application (Exhibit-C-II) shall form part of the decree.