In the case, Pfizer Inc & Ors. v Triveni Interchem Private Limited & Ors, the Delhi High Court (Court) came down heavily on Triveni Interchem Private Limited and Triveni Chemicals (together referred as Triveni) after Triveni was found guilty of “wilful” and “contumacious” contempt of the Court for disobeying an interim injunction against Pfizer Inc (Pfizer).

Consequently, the Court ordered Triveni to pay Pfizer, INR 2 crores (~USD 2,40,000) as damages within two weeks, failing which the contemnor shall be imprisoned for two weeks in Tihar Jail.

In 2021, Pfizer filed a case against Triveni, accusing them of infringing on Pfizer’s patent for a drug called Palbociclib, a breast cancer medication. The Court granted an ad interim injunction to Pfizer, restraining Triveni from various actions related to the patent-infringing product Palbociclib. These actions included making, selling, distributing, advertising, exporting, or importing Palbociclib or any pharmaceutically acceptable salt of it. Triveni was also instructed to remove all references to Palbociclib from its websites and third-party platforms, like IndiaMART. Sometime in July 2022, Pfizer again found the infringing products by Triveni to be available on IndiaMART in a new packaging (on the same impugned link as per suit and on a new link).

In 2022, Pfizer responded by filing a contempt application against Triveni for violating the Court’s injunction order. The Court found Triveni in contempt of the 2021 injunction and directed Triveni to provide an explanation for the altered packaging. In response, Triveni submitted affidavits; however, these affidavits lacked essential information as required by the Court’s instructions. Parallelly, the infringing products were still available for sale on another e-commerce platform called Connect2India.

In December 2022, the Court held Kamlesh Singh, guilty of wilful disobedience and contempt of the Court’s injunction order and moved the case to the sentencing phase in January 2023. However, once again Triveni’s affidavits filed on January 17, 2023, were found to be inadequate. Further, the affidavits claimed to have dealt with Palbociclib only in July 2022, contradicting their previous statements in the September 2022 affidavit and their statements before the Court in December 2022. Triveni argued that their January 2023 affidavit showed compliance with the Court’s orders, hence no further action or property attachment was necessary against them. The Court was left to assess these conflicting submissions and the continued disregard for its injunction.

The Court, relying on the principles of contempt, as previous precents in Samee Khan v Bindu Khan, and Citigroup Inc. v Citicorp Business & Finance Pvt. Ltd. observed the following:

• Contradictory Submissions: The Court noted Triveni’s inconsistent statements, initially admitting to advertising the patent-infringing product and later claiming they only dealt with it once.
• Insincere Apology: The Court was skeptical about Triveni’s claim of limited involvement with the drug and found their apology insincere, as Triveni did not provide a complete account of their dealings with the drug.
• Unbelievable Actions: The Court found it unbelievable that Triveni would advertise Palbociclib without possessing any stock of the product, which was deemed contrary to established trade norms.

Based on these observations, the Court concluded that Triveni had engaged in “wilful and contumacious disobedience” to the injunction order issued and imposed a fine of INR 2 crores (~USD 2,40,000) on Triveni. Triveni was given two weeks to pay this amount to Pfizer. Failure to comply within the stipulated timeframe would result in Kamlesh Singh (Director of Triveni Interchem Private Limited) being detained in a civil prison for two weeks, in accordance with the established legal principles.