RHONE-POULENCE S.A. AND ANOTHER vs. GHANA NATIONAL TRADING CORPORATION [1972]DLHC2419

Date	1972-05-26
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1972]DLHC2419

ABBAN J.

J. B. QUASHIE-IDUN (MRS. ANSAH WITH HIM) FOR THE PLAINTIFFS.

J. A. AYITEY FOR THE DEFENDANT.

[1972]DLHC2419
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >RHONE-POULENCE S.A. AND ANOTHER<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p>GHANA NATIONAL TRADING CORPORATION <o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT,
ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[1972]
2 GLR 109<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

DATE:
26 MAY 1972.<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

J. B. QUASHIE-IDUN (MRS. ANSAH WITH HIM) FOR THE
PLAINTIFFS.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

ABBAN J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF ABBAN J.<o:p></o:p>In this
application, the plaintiffs are asking for an order of interim injunction
restraining the defendant from infringing the plaintiffs’ patent rights in respect
of the Ghana Patent No. 522, and from offering for sale a drug, called
metronidazole, the product involved in the said infringement.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The two
plaintiffs are limited liability companies. The first plaintiff is the owner of
the United Kingdom Patent No. 836854. This patent was sealed in the United
Kingdom Patent Office, on 28 September 1960, and it covered an invention
entitled the “New imidazole derivations and processes for their preparation.”
The said patent was later registered in Ghana, under the Patents Registration
Ordinance, Cap. 179 (1951 Rev.), as Patent No. 522, and dated 18 October 1962.
Patents covering the said invention have also been sealed by the first
plaintiff in other countries, namely, West Germany, United States of America,
Soviet Union, Japan, Holland, Canada, Denmark and Sweden.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
second plaintiff is a manufacturer and it is registered in this country as an
external company. It deals mostly in pharmaceutical and medical preparations.
According to the plaintiffs, the second plaintiff is “a wholly owned subsidiary
of the first plaintiff.” The plaintiffs further aver that since the grant of
the United Kingdom Letters Patent on 28 September 1960, the second plaintiff
has been the sole and exclusive licensee of the first plaintiff in respect of
that patent and of all the other patents sealed in other countries including
the Ghana Patent No. 522. So that the rights of the patentee (the first
plaintiff) deriving from the said invention are exclusively vested in the
second plaintiff. From the photocopy of the patent specification, attached to
the affidavits of the plaintiffs, it is clear that one of the imidazole
derivatives covered by the patent has the generic name of “metronidazole.” This
“metronidazole” is manufactured and sold by the second plaintiff in this
country and in other parts of the world under the trade name Flagyl. This drug,
according to the plaintiffs,<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">“has been
an outstanding success since its introduction on the market in 1960; and until
the introduction in 1969 of a chemically related substance, called
nitrimidazine, metronidazole was the only product effective for the oral
treatment of vaginal trichomoniasis.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Even
after 1969, the drug has been, and still is, extremely useful in treating many
infections.<o:p></o:p>The defendant’s
case is that it received the product in question from corporation, carrying on
trading business in Ghana, has infringed and has threatened to continue to
infringe the said Ghana Patent No. 522, by offering for sale, and for selling,
metronidazole drug which was not produced by the second plaintiff. The
plaintiffs have therefore instituted the present action for perpetual
injunction and for damages. But until the substantive case is heard, they are,
in this application, praying for an order of interlocutory injunction.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
defendant’s case is that it received the product in question from its
manufacturer-supplier, called international Generics Ltd. of London, for sale
in this country; and</main>