The Supreme Court today allowed TVS Motor Co to manufacture ‘Flame’, the 125 cc bike which was caught in a patent row with Bajaj Auto Ltd. But the finished two-wheelers would not leave the company’s warehouse. Both parties were also restrained from using the order for any purpose, including publicity.
The bench headed by Justice B Sudershan Reddy passed the order after hearing the pleas of TVS which sought to manufacture the bike, with an undertaking that it would not sell it in the market.
The Madras high court last month had permitted the Chennai-based company to use the two-spark plugs in its bikes. Bajaj, its competitor in the two-wheeler market, moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court ruling.
The objection of Bajaj is that it has the patent for the twin-spark plug for combustion, a technology used in its two-wheelers and TVS should therefore be restrained from using it. In this long-drawn out legal battle, the high court last year had restrained TVS from manufacturing or selling its bike.
However, last month a division bench of the high court delivered a reasoned judgment in which TVS was allowed to sell the bike. It had held that Bajaj had not made a good case of infringement of the patent by TVS.
Counsel for Bajaj argued today that the high court had relied on a blog by an IIT student to decide the controversial issue. He also contended that though the high court felt that the questions involved were ‘triable’, it did not go into the balance of convenience on both sides.
TVS submitted that it might be allowed to manufacture the bike on condition that it would not leave its warehouse. This offer was agreed to by the judges and Bajaj. The court asked both parties to file their replies within two months and listed the case for further hearing in the first week of August.
