Delhi High Court Restrains Chakr Innovation From Using Unlicensed SolidWorks Software On 12 Computers

The Delhi High Court on 5 October restrained Chakr Innovation Private Limited from using, installing or distributing pirated or unlicensed versions of SolidWorks design software, and from tampering with data on 12 computer systems allegedly running unauthorised copies.

Justice Vikas Mahajan passed the interim injunction in a copyright infringement suit filed by Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp and its Indian sister company. He observed that. “it prima facie appears that plaintiff no.1 is the owner of the copyrights in the 'SolidWorks' software programmes”, which the Copyright Act, 1957, read with the International Copyright Order, 1999, protects.

SolidWorks is 3D CAD/CAM software used to model and simulate solid products. It serves over 300,000 customers worldwide. Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp, a US company, manages the software's intellectual property rights, while its Indian sister company is a wholly owned subsidiary of France-based Dassault Systèmes.

Chakr Innovation, a Delhi-based cleantech company incorporated in 2016, manufactures emission-reduction products such as Chakr Shield and Chakr DeNox.

According to the plaintiffs, Chakr held 26 SolidWorks licences, all marked “Active Without Support”, which permitted it to use only the basic versions it had purchased. Market sources allegedly alerted them in November 2024 to Chakr's use of pirated copies, and subsequent internal checks confirmed the suspected unauthorised use.

Subsequently, they wrote to Chakr on 5 November 2024 and issued a cease-and-desist notice on 18 December 2024. Chakr's counsel denied the allegations on 24 December 2024. The parties continued discussions until 27 March 2025, before pre-litigation mediation at the Delhi High Court Mediation Centre failed following several rounds between May and December 2025.

To establish the alleged infringement, the plaintiffs relied on SolidWorks' “Phone Home” technology, which checks whether users comply with software licence terms and transmits information to their servers. The system records the software title, licence key, computer's MAC and IP addresses, and the network's email domain.

The technology allegedly recorded 160 “infringement hits” from 12 computers linked to Chakr between 30 November 2023 and July 2026. Some records carried Chakr's email domain, “chakr.in”. The plaintiffs also apprehended that additional systems, including offline computers, might contain unauthorised copies.

The Court observed that the recorded hits “prima facie demonstrate that unauthorized/pirated versions of 'SolidWorks' have been used on at least twelve computer systems traced to the defendant's organisation.” It held that the balance of convenience favoured the plaintiffs and that they would suffer irreparable loss “difficult to quantify in monetary terms” without an injunction.

Until the next hearing, the Bench restrained Chakr, its officers, directors, agents and others acting on its behalf at its premises from using, accessing or installing pirated or unlicensed SolidWorks software, or reproducing or distributing it in breach of the licence agreement.

It also prohibited them from formatting the 12 identified computers, identified by their MAC addresses, or erasing any data, log files or installations relating to the plaintiffs' software on those systems.

The suit will come up before the Joint Registrar on 30 November 2026 and before the Court on 21 January 2027.