The Delhi High Court on Friday referred to mediation a patent infringement case filed by a tech company Voicemonk against Google LLC and its group entities for infringing two Indian patents [Voicemonk Inc v. Google LLC & Ors].
Voicemonk claims that Google’s AI assistant Gemini and its operating system Android are infringing two of its Indian patents.
Justice Jyoti Singh urged the parties to resolve the dispute within four weeks through mediation, after recording their willingness to explore options of amicable settlement.
“Parties referred to mediation before a senior mediator. All efforts will be made by the parties to conclude mediation as soon as possible and not later than four weeks from today,” the Court directed.
Advocate Rajeshwari Hariharan, appearing for Voicemonk, submitted that the US-based company was seeking protection against patent infringement by Google.
“There are two features that Google has - Gemini and Android tracking behaviour. I am against both of them. We have been on mediation. They have made an offer, but it is not satisfactory that is why I have come back to court,” she stated.
The uniqueness of Voicemonk's first patent, Hariharan argued, is that it gives the information searched for in one page instead of multiple pages.
“Once you give a search - I want black shirts under ₹500 in Connaught Place - it will search and collect all the stores and display results in one page. In Google search, you get the result in several pages. This will give you result in one page.”
She added that the second patent being allegedly infringed learns user behaviour across applications to recommend or execute follow-on actions.
“By second patent, I track the behaviour. In our phone, we click photo, maybe then I have a tendency of sending it on Instagram or to a friend on WhatsApp. The phone tracks the behaviour and gives a prompt based on it to share it. This is the software I have,” she stated.
The Court was told these two patents are being infringed by Google.
“These very softwares have been incorporated by Google in their phones and Android phones, that is what I have come against.”
Voicemonk also submitted that the High Court has territorial jurisdiction in the matter, as the infringing products and services are accessible throughout India including in Delhi.
Appearing for Google, Advocate Piyush Kalra submitted that Voicemonk has made vague and general statements in the suit.
He stated that mediation was previously conducted for only one patent, but the suit has been instituted for another patent. Thereby, he sought directions for second round of mediation.
“Google would not get into litigation on such issues. It is a global thing for us, we would like to sort it. At mediation, we discussed only one patent. There was a huge difference in the money demanded and offered. There was no discussion of the second patent. They never came foward to discuss the issue. The suit is filed for two patents. They have enlarged the scope of the issue. This matter should go for mediation,” he stated.
The Court recorded Kalra's statement that Google is open and willing to explore mediation.
The next date of hearing is March 13.
Voicemonk Inc. was represented by Lexport along with Advocates Raj Latha Kotni, Srinivas Kotni, Ananya Nikhil Singh, Shyam Kishor Maurya, Swagita Pandey and Anirudh Ramanathan. Arguing counsel Rajeshwari Hariharan led arguments.