Delhi High Court Sets Aside Ex-Parte Interim Injunction on K.S. Oils' 'KALASH' Trademark, Notes CIRP Sale Of Company

The Delhi High Court on Monday set aside an ex parte ad interim injunction that had restrained K.S. Oils Limited from using the 'KALASH' trademark and has asked the Trial Court to take a fresh call on the injunction application. This allows them to use the mark for edible oils.

The ruling came on March 30, 2026, from a division bench of Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, which found that the trial court's conclusion on a prima facie case could not be sustained.

The bench noted that key aspects of the appellant's claim, including assignment deeds, pending trademark applications, and subsisting statutory registrations, had not been taken into account.

The timeline also weighed with the court. By the time the injunction was passed on February 4, 2026, K.S. Oils had already been sold as a going concern through the CIRP process and had restarted production in October 2024.

In that context, the Bench said issuing a short notice and hearing the company would have been the more appropriate course, rather than passing an ex-parte order at the outset

On February 4, 2026, the trial court had granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining K.S. Oils Limited from using the 'KALASH' word mark and associated labels for edible oils, after holding that Shivang Edibles Oils Limited had made out a prima facie case of passing off based on its claimed continuous use of the mark since 2017.

In doing so, the trial court noted that the appellant's primary trademark registration had lapsed and held that its 2025 pending applications did not confer enforceable rights at that stage.

Challenging the order, K.S. Oils traced its claim over the mark back to 1975, pointing to assignment deeds executed in 1986 and 1996. It also relied on trademark applications filed in 2008, along with trademark and copyright registrations obtained in 2009, to assert continuing statutory rights.

According to the company, these rights were carried forward as part of the assets when it was sold as a going concern through a CIRP process, culminating in an NCLT-approved e-auction in 2025. It also pointed out that commercial production had resumed months before the suit came to be filed.

The respondent, Shivang Edibles Oils Limited, placed its claim on a different footing. It relied on a fresh assignment deed dated January 1, 2026, and maintained that it had been using the mark continuously since 2017.

When the High Court examined these competing claims, it found that the Trial Court had missed key material on record. This included the appellant's 2008 trademark applications and its 2009 trademark and copyright registrations, which, in the Court's view, indicated prior use and supported its claim to statutory rights.

“These pending trademark applications of 2008 and the Copyright registrations for the artistic label Kalash and of the year 2009 were material facts, which ought to have been considered by the Trial Court before forming an ex-parte prima facie opinion in favour of the Respondent/plaintiff, as these documents indisputably show prior use, by the Appellant, of the said mark,” the Court observed.

The bench also noted that the respondent was aware of the insolvency proceedings in which 'KALASH' was reflected as a corporate asset but failed to disclose these facts in the plaint.

Setting aside the impugned order, the court directed the trial court to decide the injunction application afresh after completion of pleadings, preferably within one month.

It also recalled the directions for seizure of the appellant's goods and permitted it to de-seal and sell its products in the market. This is subject to the oil company maintaining audited monthly sales statements to be placed before the trial court until final disposal of the application.