Himachal Pradesh High Court Restrains Sale Of "Old Mist" Coffee-Flavoured Rum In Trademark Infringement Suit By "Old Monk" Brand Owners

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has granted an ex parte ad interim injunction in favour of Mohan Meakin Limited, the owner of Old Monk/Old Monk Coffee. The Court restrained Eston Roman Brewery & Distillery Pvt. Ltd from selling its coffee-flavoured rum under the mark “OLD MIST ”, till further orders, finding that the product was substantially similar to the plaintiff's registered trademark.Justice Ajay Mohan Goel held: “Prima facie it appears that there is an infringement of the trade...

Delhi's Swagath Restaurant Moves High Court Against Telangana-Based Hotel Chain Alleging Trademark Infringement

Delhi's popular restaurant chain has moved the Delhi High Court against a Telangana-based hotel group alleging trademark infringement over the use of the name 'Swagath'.Justice Amit Bansal issued notices on both the restaurant's suit and interim injunction application, as well as the Rectification Petition seeking cancellation of the hotel group's trademark.M/s Swagath runs hotels on a franchise basis in New Delhi and adjoining areas. M/s. Hotel Swagath claims to be operating since 1991 across...

Delhi High Court Passes John Doe Order In Favour Of Birkenstock, Orders Local Commissioners To Inspect Infringers' Premises

While passing a john doe order in favour of footwear brand Birkenstock, the Delhi High Court has ordered inspection by local commissioners on the premises of infringer entities. Justice Saurabh Banerjee restrained the defendants or distributors or sellers or importers or exporters or franchises from selling or marketing or dealing in the products bearing “Birkenstock” trademark or its trade dress. The Court passed the order in an interim injunction application moved by Birkenstock in its...

'Family Of Marks' Concept Not Expressly Recognised Under Trademarks Act, But Can Be Applied To Injunct Specific Marks: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that though the Trade Marks Act 1999 does not expressly recognise the concept of a 'family of marks' however, the same is judicially developed and can be invoked by a registered trademark owner to seek injunction against specific marks.A division bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Ajay Digpaul ruled,“When an entity is the proprietor of a number of registered trademarks containing a common prefix or suffix, or a common first or second word, any other mark by a...

Can't Reject Claim Of Infringement Merely Because Defendant Could Seek Removal Of Plaintiff's Trademark Due To 'Non-Use': Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has made it clear that a registered trademark owner's claim against infringement cannot be rejected merely on the ground that the defendant could have sought removal of the mark from the trademark's register under Section 47 of the Trademarks Act, 1999 on grounds of 'non-use'.Section 47 deals with the right of one person to apply to the Registrar of Trade Marks to have the trademark of another person taken off the register citing continuous non-use for 5 years, up to a...

Dealer Importing & Selling Trademarked Goods Cannot Sue Authorised Distributor For Infringement: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has made it clear that when a trader imports and sells goods bearing the trademark of another company, such trader cannot sue another authorized dealer of the trademark holder for infringement.Justice Amit Bansal observed, “Any person in India has the right to legally import goods from abroad bearing the trademarks of an entity and sell the same in India. Such sale of original goods by an authorized reseller/importer would not amount to trademark infringement.”In the case at...

Delhi High Court Stays Ruling Asking Amazon To Pay ₹339.25 Crore To 'Beverly Hills Polo Club' Over Trademark Infringement

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed a single judge ruling asking Amazon Technologies Inc to pay Rs. 339.25 crore damages and costs for trademark infringement of the luxury lifestyle brand, Beverly Hills Polo Club.A division bench comprising Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Ajay Digpaul pronounced the order today on Amazon's plea for stay on the ruling. “The considerations outlined herein above make out, in our considered opinion, an exceptional case, in which it would be...

Delhi High Court Rules In Favour Of Gameskraft; Restrains Rogue Websites From Using 'Rummy Culture', 'Ludo Select' Marks

Ruling in favour of Gameskraft Technologies, the Delhi High Court has restrained various rogue websites, mobile applications and domain entities from using the registered trademarks “Playship”, “Plego”, “Ludo Select”, “Pocket 52”, “Rummy”, “Rummy Culture”, “Gameskraft” and “Culture of Champions.”Justice Amit Bansal further restrained the defendant entities from infringing on the copyright vested with Gameskraft in the unique content of its websites- www.rummyculture.com, www.gamezy.com,...

'Not Honest Adoption When Essential Features Were Copied': Bombay HC Grants Interim Injunction To Parachute Hair Oil Over Trademark Infringement

The Bombay High Court granted interim relief in favour of Marico Limited, restraining Zee Hygiene Products Pvt. Ltd. and others from using labels, packaging, and bottles that are deceptively similar to the registered trademarks and trade dress of Marico's popular “Parachute,” “Parachute Advanced,” and “Parachute Jasmine” products.Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh, while allowing Marico's interim application, held that although the defendant possesses a registered trademark for “Cocoplus,” it was not...

'No Intention To Infringe': Lenskart Tells Delhi High Court Over 'Mistake' In Using Titan's Trademarks On Website & As Meta Tags

Indian multinational eyewear company Lenskart recently admitted to its mistake in using Tata owned eyewear brand Titan's trademarks on its website and in meta tags.Titan Company Limited had sued Peyush Bansal's Lenskart for infringement of its trademarks Titan, Titan Eye+ and Fastrack.The company claimed that its registered marks are used on Lenskart's website and also as meta tags to the source code of the said website.For context, meta tags are part of HTML which provide metadata about a...

'Exclusivity May Vanish': Delhi High Court While Granting Interim Relief To Volvo Against Knock-Off Indian Buses

The Delhi High Court recently issued an ex-parte ad interim injunction restraining a bus manufacturer and two inter-city bus service providers, from infringing the 'grille slash' trademark of Sweden-based renowned Volvo buses.Justice Amit Bansal noted that the Defendants deliberately and dishonestly created buses bearing lookalike of Volvo's trademark to encash upon the company's good will.“The defendant no. 1 has admitted manufacturing and selling such buses carrying the infringing logos on...

Threshold Of 'Deceptive Similarity' Is Lower For Food Products: Delhi HC Directs Swiggy, Zomato To Delist Restaurants Infringing Domino's Trademark

The Delhi High Court has restrained fifteen entities from infringing the trademark of famous pizza chain Domino's or its erstwhile trade name Dominick's Pizza, by using deceptively similar marks.In doing so, Justice Saurabh Banerjee observed that in disputes involving edible products, the threshold for establishing deceptive similarity is lower than that applied in other cases.“In essence, any confusion between such products, if allowed to continue, can lead to disastrous consequences on human...