SOUMEN SEN,J. - (1.) This is an application filed by the defendant No.7 for revocation of leave under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent. The grounds for revocation are three-fold, namely:- (a) No part of the cause of action has arisen within the jurisdiction of this Court. (b) Forum inconvenience. (c) Accessibility of website within the jurisdiction in law cannot confer jurisdiction on this Court.
(2.) It is submitted that the defendant No.7 is having its registered office at 5/19, Poddar Nagar, Kolkata - 700 068 and also has a corporate office at 504-505, Crescent Tower, Village : Oshiwara. Off: New Line Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai - 400 053, both situated outside the jurisdiction of this Court. The main business activities are carried out from Mumbai Corporate Office with regard to present registered office at Poddar Nagar, Kolkata. The defendant No.7 is planning to shift its office to some place not within the Original Side Jurisdiction of this Court. All the directors of the company function from its corporate office at Andheri (West), Mumbai outside the jurisdiction of this Court. The suit against the defendant No.7 is principally seeking to challenge removal of the plaintiff No.1 as director of the defendant No.7. The plaintiff No.1 has already been removed by Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EOGM) held on 25th February, 2017 at its corporate office at Mumbai.
(3.) Mr. Rajat Agarwal made the application for registration of the domain name "www.spartanpoker.com" with Bigrock on behalf of the defendant No.7 from his Mumbai residence. All the trademark applications filed by the defendant No.7 since 2014 with regard to the registration of various trademarks including "Spartan" is pending in the Mumbai Trademark Registry. Rajat Agarwal used to operate its business from Mumbai at the address at Chambur and looked after financial matter of the company from its office at Andheri (West), Mumbai. The address of the plaintiff No.1 stated in the cause title of the plaint, namely, at 137, Biplabi Rashbehari Basu Road, Kolkata - 700 001 is irrelevant for the purpose of jurisdiction inasmuch as there is no question of any copyright of the plaintiff No.1. The plaintiff No.1 has since initiated trade mark objection to the trade mark application of the defendant No.1 Company in Mumbai in October, 2016. The plaintiff No.3 is a company registered at New Alipore, Kolkata - 700 053, outside the jurisdiction of the Court. The plaintiff Nos.1 and 2 both reside in New Alipore outside the jurisdiction of this Court. In view thereof, it is contended that no dispute has arisen between the parties within the jurisdiction of this Court and no event took place within the jurisdiction of this Court. All activities including the registration of domain names and the trade mark, removal of the directors have taken place in Mumbai, outside the jurisdiction of this Court. The natural forum for adjudicating the disputes as against the defendant No.7, therefore, is also in Mumbai. In a desperate attempt to attract jurisdiction the plaintiffs have even alleged that business of the defendant No.7 is carried out at 21, Hemanta Basu Sarani. Such allegation is false and not even alleged in the cause title. The defendant No.7 has never mentioned 21, Hemanta Basu Sarani (wrongly mentioned as 10, Hemanata Basu Sarani) as its place of business. The allegation that all website is accessible within the jurisdiction of this Court cannot confer jurisdiction of this Court. The petitioner in the alternative has prayed for deletion of the defendant No.7 from the array of defendants. ;