Bombay High Court Sets Aside Rejection Of Olympic Committee's 'Faster, Higher, Stronger-Together' Trademark

The Bombay High Court has set aside the Registrar of Trade Marks' rejection of the International Olympic Committee's application to register “Faster, Higher, Stronger-Together” and remanded the matter for fresh consideration by another officer.Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan was hearing a petition filed by the International Olympic Committee (Comite International Olympique), challenging the rejection of its application to register the phrase, which the committee adopted as a further improvisation...

Arbitrator Cannot Disregard Agreement To Treat WhatsApp Exchanges As Concluded Contract: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that an arbitrator cannot disregard the terms of the contract under which a dispute was referred to arbitration and treat WhatsApp exchanges as a separate concluded agreement when that was never the pleaded case.Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh partly set aside an arbitral award in a family partnership dispute involving a husband, his wife, and other family members. The court quashed the direction to pay 9% annual interest on a ₹5 crore loan, which the arbitrator had...

Company Cannot Deny Employee Equity By Relying On Its Own Failure To Frame ESOP Scheme: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has recently held that a company cannot rely on its own failure to frame an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) to deny an employee equity that was offered as part of his remuneration package.Justice N.J. Jamadar made the observation while dismissing Waterfield Advisors Private Limited's petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The company had challenged an arbitral award directing it to allot 31,878 equity shares to its former Director...

Mere Filing Of Company Petition In NCLT Does Not Bar Interim Relief Under Arbitration Act: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has recently held that the mere filing of a company petition before the National Company Law Tribunal does not bar a shareholder from seeking interim relief under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. This applies where the relief sought concerns rights arising from a Shareholders' Agreement containing an arbitration clause.Justice Amit Borkar, while partly allowing a petition filed by a 33% shareholder and Director of Farma Hub Overseas Pvt Ltd, rejected the objection...

Bombay High Court Sentences Insolvent To Jail For Concealing Bank Accounts, Rejects Limitation Defence

The Bombay High Court on 7 August held insolvent Pallav Sheth guilty of contempt under Section 33(4) of the Insolvency Act, 1909 for wilfully failing to disclose his assets and bank accounts to the Official Assignee, and sentenced him to one month's simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 2,000, with one week's further imprisonment in default. Justice N.J. Jamadar observed that an insolvent who makes positive statements on oath concealing assets and bank accounts cannot later invoke limitation...

Bombay High Court Says Judicial Machinery's Error Cannot Prejudice Litigant, Restores ₹2.04 Crore Suit

The Bombay High Court on 7 August held that a litigant cannot be made to suffer for an error attributable to the Court or its machinery and must be restored to the position it would have occupied had the error not occurred. A Division Bench of Justices Madhav J. Jamdar and Pravin S. Patil made the observation while restoring a Rs. 2.04 crore recovery suit filed by supplier and commission agent Jivaraj Ravaji Gandhi against Solapur Jilha Dudh Utpadak va Prakriya Sangh Maryadit, Solapur and...

Two Arbitration Places Can Both Be Seats If Parties Do Not Choose One: Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on 16 July held that where an arbitration agreement specifies two alternative places as the “place of arbitration” and the parties do not subsequently choose one, both places can operate as juridical seats of arbitration. Justice Vivek Jain accordingly referred the dispute between Idieal Multi Media Network Private Limited and newspaper publisher CMYK Printech Limited to arbitration and appointed former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul as the sole...

Bombay High Court Allows $200,733 Claim Against Victore Ships, Says Voluntary Absence Won't Bar Enforcement

The Bombay High Court on 5 August held that a party cannot claim it was unable to present its case when it voluntarily chose not to participate in arbitration, and allowed enforcement of a USD 200,733.01 foreign arbitral award, along with interest and costs, in favour of Osterreichischer Llyod Seereederei against Victore Ships Private Limited. A Bench of Justice Arif S. Doctor held: “Section 48(1)(b) is intended to protect a party who, for reasons beyond its control, was genuinely unable to...

Monetary Claims Alone Do Not Bar Urgent Relief Exception To Pre-Institution Mediation: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on August 5 ruled that seeking monetary relief along with specific performance, declarations, and injunctions does not, by itself, mean that a commercial suit is only about compensation. It also does not mean that the suit cannot genuinely require urgent interim relief, an exception to the requirement of pre-institution mediation under Section 12-A(1) of the Commercial Courts Act.“The fact that a plaintiff seeks consequential monetary reliefs, in addition to equitable and...

Bombay High Court Restrains 'Bislie' Water Maker From Using Mark In Bisleri Trademark Suit

The Bombay High Court has temporarily restrained a Karnataka-based packaged drinking water manufacturer from using “Bislie”, finding the mark prima facie deceptively similar to Bisleri International's registered “Bisleri” trademark.Justice Madhav J. Jamdar was hearing an interim application filed by Bisleri International Private Limited against Belaguli Mahalingegowda Kirankumar, proprietor of Kalabyraveshwara Mineral Water Industry. The company sought an injunction against the manufacture,...

Bombay High Court Slaps ₹2.5 Lakh Costs On Mumbai Khadi Body For Breaching Order Barring Use Of 'Khadi' Mark

The Bombay High Court has held that the Mumbai Khadi & Village Industries Association (MKVIA) wilfully breached a 2022 injunction restraining it from manufacturing, selling, or advertising products under the “Khadi” mark and from using KVIC's Charkha logo or deceptively similar marks in the prohibited commercial context. Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan observed, “MKVIA went on to do exactly what it wanted to do regardless of Injunction Order.”The court, however, declined to attach MKVIA's...

General Body Approval Not A Formality In Housing Society Redevelopment: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that approval of a housing society's General Body cannot be treated as a mere formality in redevelopment, observing that members surrender possession of their existing homes and thereafter receive reconstructed flats.“Redevelopment permanently affects rights of all members because they surrender possession of their existing premises and thereafter receive reconstructed flats. Therefore, approval of the General Body cannot be treated as formality,” Justice Amit...