Delhi High Court awards ₹217 crore as damages for lost profits in patent infringement suit

The Delhi High Court recently granted ₹217 crore as lost profits damages to Communication Component Antenna Inc (CCAI) in a patent infringement suit against Mobi Antenna Technologies. [Communication Component Antenna Inc v. Mobi Antenna Technologies].Justice Jyoti Singh cited the Delhi High Court's decision in Strix Ltd v. Maharaja Appliances Limited which held that a reasonable measure to compute damages would be the potential reasonable profit that a patentee would have earned if the infringing product was sold by it. .The Court was hearing a patent infringement suit by CCAI against Mobi for infringing the patent granted for an invention called ‘Asymmetrical Beams for Spectrum Efficiency’ in bisector array antennas. As per the suit, novelty of the patent was in the fact that by changing the beam pattern, greater efficacy in the usage of the spectrum could be achieved. According to the plaintiffs, their bisector array antennas could be replaced by those of Mobi.The purpose of the invention is to achieve greater efficacy without compromising on the quality, which means that while allowing greater number of subscribers to connect using the same spectrum, quality of the calls is maintained..Mobi fully participated in the trial but abandoned the proceedings once the Court had dismissed its challenge to the validity of CCAI's patent. .Based on the evidence led, the Court determined that the following stood proved:a) Beam patterns of both the products were similar;b) Beam shape of Mobi's infringing products gave feature of “substantial equivalence” of critical coverage area as compared to the critical coverage area of the earlier antennas; andc) Mobi's products replace or are capable of replacing three existing 65-degree antennas in a 3-sector configuration as well as in greenfield cellular networks where three 65-degree antennas in a 3-sector configuration could have been used.The cross examination of the defense witnesses was conducted by a team from Sim & San..The Court determined that the damages had to be paid on the basis of lost profits. Accordingly, it estimated the lost market share by assuming that had Mobi not been in the market, CCAI would have sold about 47,355 units at a profit of $550 on each unit. This figure amounted to ₹2,17,47,78,375 (approx ₹217 crores).Accordingly, the Court granted CCAI a decree of permanent injunction and directed Mobi to ₹2,17,47,78,375 at 5% interest per year from the date of the judgment along with the entire cost of proceedings..Advocates Sidhant Goel Mohit Goel, Deepankar Mishra and Aditya Goel of Sim and San, led by advocate J Sai Deepak appeared for CCAI..[Read Judgment]