India’s first trial with live transcription of evidence and arguments started in the Delhi High Court on Wednesday [Communication Components Antenna Inc. v. Rosenberger Hochfrequenztechnik GMBH & Co KG & Ors].

The live transcription of evidence is being done in a patent infringement suit filed by by an American-Canadian entity, Communication Components Antenna Inc, against a German entity called Rosenberger.

Justice Prathiba M Singh started hearing arguments in the matter on Wednesday.

The matter was taken up in the post-lunch session today and two witnesses of the plaintiff were cross-examined by counsel appearing for the defendant.

At the outset, Justice Singh told the transcribers that they were not to be affected by either of the parties and that the transcription shall be true and correct.

The cross-examination went on till around 5 PM.

During the process, Justice Singh said that there may be some issues in transcription because of the different accents of the counsel and the witnesses (one British and one American). Therefore, the judge said that she would check the transcription once it is done.

As the examination concluded, she asked the transcription agency to e-mail the edited transcripts to the Court.

The Court said that it will examine the text and suggest any editing, if required. The transcripts will then be sent to the witnesses who would be required to sign the same.

The matter has been listed for further consideration on Friday at 11 AM.

Lawyers associated with the matter said that the live transcription method is widely adopted in Western and some South-East Asian countries. However, because it is an expensive tool for litigators, there is hardly any Indian agency providing this service. As such, courts in India do not offer this facility, they pointed out.

The costs of the live-transcription in the present suit is being borne by both parties equally.

The Court is conducting this trial using the process under the Delhi High Court and Patent Rules.

The suit before the Court concerns a patent titled Asymmetrical Beams for Spectrum Efficiency.' The patent relates to a method and apparatus that enables an increase in subscriber capacity and enhancement of the performance of a base station.

Communication Components Antenna filed the case since Rosenberger was found to be selling telecom antennas that allegedly infringed the former's patent. The damage claim made by Communication Components Antenna is approximately US$100 million.

In an order passed in July 2023, the High Court refused to pass an injunction order against Rosenberger. However, it found it fit to expedite the trial to make it more equitable.

Communication Components Antenna is being represented by Senior Advocate Gaurav Pachnanda. He is assisted by Advocates Mohit Goel, Sidhant Goel, Deepankar Mishra and Aditya Goel from Sim and San, Attorneys At Law.

Rosenberger is being represented by Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi and is assisted by Advocates Varun Sharma, Manisha Singh, Abhai Pandey, Swati Mittal and Gautam Kumar from Lex Orbis.