Dr Reddys Laboratories Limited v. Wockhardt Limited And ANR

$~36 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + CS(COMM) 101/2023 DR REDDYS LABORATORIES LIMITED .....Plaintiff Through:

Mr. Ranjan Narula, Mr. Parth Bajaj and Mr. Shakti Priyan Nair, Advocates.

versus WOCKHARDT LIMITED AND ANR ....Defendants Through:

Mr. Pranav Vyas, Mr. Manhar Singh Saini, Mr. Sidhant Kaushik and Mr.

Sankalp Singh, Advocates for D-1.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TUSHAR RAO GEDELA

O R D E R

% 06.05.2026 I.A. 12614/2026 (Under Order XXIII Rule 3, CPC) 1.

This is a joint application under Order XXIII Rule 3 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, (hereinafter referred to as 'CPC') seeking disposal of the present petition on the basis of settlement having been arrived at between the plaintiff and defendant no.1. 2.

Learned counsel for the parties state that the inter se disputes have been resolved amicably out of Court and have been recorded in writing vide the Settlement Agreement dated 23.04.2026.

3.

Learned counsel for the parties point out the para 9 of the Settlement Agreement and state that though the plaintiff had arrayed defendant nos.1 and 2 as parties to the suit, however, defendant no.2 is stated to be a manufacturer who was engaged by the defendant no.1 for manufacturing its products. They jointly state that since the dispute has been settled between the parties, defendant no.2 may not be a necessary party for the purposes of passing a CS(COMM) 101/2023 Page 1 of 6 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

decree and they pray that defendant no.2 may be deleted from the array of parties.

4.

Accordingly, the defendant no.2 is deleted from the array of parties. 5.

The terms of settlement are recorded in para 1 to para 9 of the Settlement Agreement dated 23.04.2026. The same are reproduced hereunder: "1.

The Defendant No.1/Respondent No.1 hereby agrees and undertakes that it shall not (whether directly or indirectly), use, manufacture, sell, offer for sale, advertise, market, distribute or deal in any pharmaceutical or medicinal products under the trademark 'PACTYON' or any other trademark/name that is identical with or deceptively similar to the Plaintiff's/Petitioner's trademark current/existing 'PRACTIN', including the use of any packaging and trade dress, get-up, colour scheme, layout or overall presentation that is identical with or deceptively similar as may be prescribed under law or equity, to that of the Plaintiff/Petitioner's product "PRACTIN" in the Territories mentioned in the Business Transfer Agreement dated 12 February 2020 (hereinafter referred to as "the BTA").

2.

The Plaintiff/Petitioner shall take steps to fully and finally close and dispose the litigations i.e., CS (COMM) 101/2023 and Rectification Petition being C.O. (COMM. IPD - TM) 123/2025 including all the interim applications filed thereunder, filed against Defendant No. 1/Respondent No.1, in relation to the trademark 'WOKTYON'. The Plaintiff/Petitioner shall not object to or take any action against Defendant No. 1/Respondent No.1's use of the trademark 'WOKTYON'. In respect of the use of 'WOKTYON' in its existing trade dress, the Defendant No. 1/Respondent No.1 undertakes that it shall be entitled to retain or use the trade dress for 'WOKTYON' until December 31, 2026 and after December 31, 2026 (the Defendant no.1 /Respondent No.1 has the discretion but not the obligation to earlier than December 31, 2026), the Defendant No.

1/Respondent No. 1 shall not use/sell/advertise/offer for sale or deal in any manner the current packaging/trade dress of the product bearing the mark WOKTYON.

CS(COMM) 101/2023 Page 2 of 6 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

Existing New 3.

Provided that all rights of the Parties in case of any instance of alleged infringement of their respective intellectual property rights by the other Party to these Consent Terms shall remain reserved including availing appropriate remedies in accordance with law against the infringing Party, be it the Plaintiff/Petitioner or the Defendant No. 1/Respondent No.1.

4.

Destruction of Packaging -Specifically with reference to 'PACTYON' only, - Defendant No. 1/Respondent No.1 confirms that it has subsumed and/or destroyed all packaging material, labels, cartons, promotional material and material which is alleged by the Plaintiff/Petitioner to be infringing 'PRACTIN' in relation to product 'PACTYON'.

5.

Trademark Registration- The Parties shall make a joint application in the pending C.O. (COMM. IPD-TM) 123/2025 stating that the Defendant No. 1 does not have any objection to the removal of the aforementioned trade mark from the Register of Trade Marks and shall not file any fresh application for registration of the mark and/or the device of PRACTIN or any marks deceptively similar thereto in the Territories mentioned in BTA (hereinafter referred to as the "Joint Application"). The Defendant No.1/ Respondent No.1 CS(COMM) 101/2023 Page 3 of 6 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

shall further apply for withdrawal/voluntary cancellation of the trade mark PACTYON bearing no. 5700543 in class 5 to the appropriate authority (Trade Marks Registry) simultaneously with the filing of the Joint Application.

6.

Nature of Understanding -The Plaintiff/Petitioner agrees and confirms that by virtue of the present settlement between the parties, all claims and allegations made by the Plaintiff/Petitioner as part of the captioned suit - i.e., CS (COMM) 101/2023 and the Rectification Petition being C.O. (COMM. IPD-TM) 123/2025 including all the interim applications filed thereunder shall stand settled and the suit and Rectification Petition shall stand disposed of accordingly.

7.

The execution of these Consent Terms shall not be construed as an admission of any wrongdoing, alleged infringement, or liability by Defendant No. 1/Respondent No.1 or creation of any new right in favour of the Plaintiff/Petitioner as regards the existing disputes, but is being entered into solely for the purpose of amicable settlement as agreed between the Parties.

8.

Pursuant to the execution of the present Consent Terms, the parties shall jointly request the Hon'ble Court to dispose of the captioned suit CS (COMM) 101/2023 and the Rectification Petition being C.O. (COMM. IPD-TM) 123/2025 including all the interim applications thereunder in terms of the Consent Terms as above with no orders as to cost, which shall form part of the order of the Hon'ble Court and shall bind both parties and their successors and assigns.

9.

These Consent Terms have been entered into by and between the Plaintiff/Petitioner and Defendant No.1/Respondent No.1. However the Plaintiff confirms that the captioned suit may be disposed of with respect to Defendant No.2/Respondent No.2 on the basis of the Defendant No. 1/Respondent No. 1's statement and representation that Defendant No. 2 in CS (COMM) 101/2023 is only a manufacturer engaged by Defendant No. 1/Respondent No. 1 and that the Defendant No. 2 in CS (COMM) 101/2023 forms no part of the dispute on account of the undertaking being furnished by Defendant No. 1/Respondent No. 1."

6.

All the compliances are stated to be complete. 7.

This Court has perused the terms of settlement and finds them lawful. The terms of settlement appear to be within the contours of Order XXIII Rule 3 of the CPC.

CS(COMM) 101/2023 Page 4 of 6 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

8.

There is no impediment in case the suit is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.

9.

Parties shall remain bound by the terms of settlement. 10.

The suit is disposed of in view of the settlement arrived at between the parties vide the Settlement Agreement dated 23.04.2026, alongwith pending application.

11.

The next date of hearing i.e. 10.09.2026 stands cancelled. TUSHAR RAO GEDELA, J MAY 6, 2026/anj At 2:30 p.m.

I.A. 12709/2026 (Seeking directions to the Registry) 12.

This is an application filed on behalf of the defendant no.1 under Section 151 of the CPC seeking directions to the Registry to return the physical copies and to delete the electronic records of the Business Transfer Agreement from the record of the Suit bearing C.S. (COMM.) NO. 101/2023. 13.

Learned counsel for defendant no.1/applicant states that defendant no.1 filed an application bearing I.A. no.6333/2025 seeking permission to place on record four documents as enumerated in para 2 of the present application which was allowed vide order dated 10.03.2025. He states that out of the four documents, it is the document at Srl. No.(ii) i.e. Business Transfer Agreement dated 12.02.2020 between the plaintiff and defendant no.1, which is confidential in nature.

14.

Learned counsel for defendant no.1 further states that physical copies were not filed and only the electronic records of the Business Transfer Agreement was placed before this Court vide Index 1324235. 15.

Having regard to the aforesaid statement of learned counsel for defendant no.1 that the document at Srl. no.(ii) of para 2 of the instant CS(COMM) 101/2023 Page 5 of 6 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.

application is confidential in nature and the fact that the other documents in para 2 are also ancillary/incidental documents, it would be in the interests of justice to hide/redact these documents rather than delete these documents. 16.

Ordered accordingly.

17.

List before the Joint Registrar (Judicial) for compliance on 18.05.2026. TUSHAR RAO GEDELA, J MAY 6, 2026 kct CS(COMM) 101/2023 Page 6 of 6 The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.