Bombay High Court Allows Colgate To Submit Six Renewed Trademark Certificates In 1996 Suit Against Anchor

The Bombay High Court has allowed Colgate-Palmolive to introduce six renewed trademark registration certificates as evidence in its 1996 infringement suit against Anchor Health and Beauty Care Private Limited, holding that the documents cannot be considered irrelevant to the dispute.

Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan observed that “Colgate has paid a disproportionate price for its attorneys' failure to have tabled the six LPCs on July 10, 2019”.

The court declined to impose costs on the company.

Colgate-Palmolive Company and Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited filed the suit on October 29, 1996, seeking injunctions against trademark infringement and passing off, along with damages.

The dispute arose after Colgate tendered six renewed Legal Proceedings Certificates (LPCs) before a court commissioner on August 7, 2019. The Trade Marks Registry had issued the certificates on July 2 and 3 that year, but Colgate did not produce them before the court on July 10, when its witness's affidavit was taken on record. Anchor objected to their admission.

Colgate applied on August 26, 2019, to have the certificates admitted into evidence. The court had directed that cross-examination of Colgate's witness continue only after deciding the application.

Anchor questioned the certificates' authenticity, citing difficulties in tracing original Registry files and concerns over reconstructed records.

The court held that the certificates were relevant to the issues framed in the suit, including whether five trademark registrations were valid and subsisting. The sixth registration was already represented by an exhibit on record.

Referring to Sections 31 and 137 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the court observed that registration constitutes prima facie evidence of validity and certified register entries can be admitted without further proof or production of the original.

The court clarified that admitting the certificates did not establish their authenticity or the truth of their contents. Anchor can still challenge the Registry records and contest the certificates' evidentiary weight at trial, but cannot reopen the question of their mode of proof.

The six certificates will be marked as Exhibits P-50 to P-55. Two additional certificates will be marked as P-56 and P-57.

The parties must appear before the court commissioner within a week of the order's upload to seek directions on further proceedings.