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...

Trademark Infringement | Jeopardisation Of IPO Due To Interim Injunction Not Grounds To It Set Aside: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has made it clear that an entity cannot seek to set aside an interim injunction passed against it in a trademark infringement suit, merely because its business or IPO launch is jeopardized due to such injunction.A division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar held,“In the present case, while the Appellant has strenuously contended that the injunction has brought its business operations to a standstill and jeopardized its IPO plans, we are not...

Delhi High Court Permits Indiamart To Provide 'PUMA' Search Option In Drop Down Menu But It Must Delete Counterfeit Listings When Notified

The Delhi High Court has set aside a single judge ruling to the extent of restraining Indiamart from providing registered trademark “PUMA” in respect of the goods as search options in its drop down menu presented to prospective sellers at the time of their registration on the e-commerce platform.A division bench comprising Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju however sustained the direction that Indiamart shall take down all infringing listings containing the PUMA marks...

'Anti-Dissection Rule' Doesn't Bar Comparison Of Dominant Parts Of Trademark To Ascertain Similarity: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has made it clear that even though similarity in two competing trademarks cannot be ascertained by dissecting and comparing their parts, the “dominant parts” of the trademarks can be compared.A division bench of Justices Vibhu Bakhru and Sachin Datta observed,“It is well settled that the question whether competing trademarks are similar cannot be decided by dissecting them and then comparing their parts for similarities. Having stated the above, it is necessary to note that...

Not Necessary To Use Trademark In Physical Form, May Be Used In Any Other Relation To Goods: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has made it clear that it is not necessary that a trademark must be used in a physical form in relation to the goods.While referring to Section 2(2)(c) of the Trademarks Act 1999, a division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur held that the mark may be used in any other relation whatsoever to such goods.It observed, “The “use of a mark” in relation to goods is therefore, the use of the same upon, or in any physical or in any other relation whatsoever, to such...