Court Case Bulletin (CCB): Constituent Elements Of A Composite Mark Can Be Considered While Determining Deceptive Similarity Between Marks

In the matter of Avtar Singh & Others. v Sakshi Srivastava & Another [CS(COMM) 385/2020], Single Judge [N. Jayant, J.] of the High Court of Delhi, vide order dated 4th October, 2021, allowed an Interim Application for permanent injunction against the Defendants, holding effectively that the constituent elements of a composite mark can be considered while determining deceptive similarity between marks.

Section 17(2)(b) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 provides for the anti-dissection rule and states that “when a trademark contains any matter which is common to the trade or is otherwise of a non-distinctive character, the registration thereof shall not confer any exclusive right in the matter forming only a part of the whole of the trade mark so registered”. Thus, the anti-dissection rule requires courts, in cases of trademark infringement involving composite marks, to consider composite marks as a whole rather than dissecting them into component parts and comparing with corresponding parts of a rival mark. The question which arises is whether a proprietor can succeed in a claim of infringement by claiming an ‘exclusive right in only a dominant part of the whole of the trade mark registered by him’?

The Plaintiff contends that the Defendant’s mark ‘WOODLEY’ is deceptively similar to the trademarks of the Plaintiff, namely ‘WOODS’ and ‘WOODLAND’ as the dominant element of the mark WOOD has been copied by the Defendants and seeks a permanent injunction against the Defendants.

The Defendants submit that the plea of deceptive similarity raised by the Plaintiff does not hold any ground as the Plaintiff alleges that the Defendants have copied its dominant constituent mark WOOD and the anti-dissection rule, enshrined under Section 17(2)(b) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, doesn’t confer any exclusive right in only a dominant part of the whole of the trade mark and prevents the evaluation of constituent elements of a composite mark to determine deceptive similarity.

The Court rejected the Defendant’s argument of the application of anti-dissection rule and noted that the dominant elements may be viewed as a preliminary step on the way to an ultimate determination of probable customer reaction to the conflicting composites as a whole and that the principle of ‘anti dissection’ and identification of ‘dominant mark’ are not antithetical to one another. The Court allowing the Interim Application of the Plaintiff seeking permanent injunction against the Defendants held that “the anti-dissection rule doesn’t impose a complete embargo on upon consideration of the constituent elements of a composite mark“.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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Impact on Statutory & Commercial Rights by Rogue Websites Sufficient for Interim Order

In the matter of Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd. v. Godaddy Operating Company LLC & Ors. CS(COMM) 370/2020 [I.A. No. 7941/2020], the Delhi High Court, vide its order dated September 10, 2020, granted an ad-interim injunction directing suspension of Defendants’ domain names purposed to be rogue websites using the Plaintiff’s marks including Flipkart’ and ‘The Big Billion day’. 

The Plaintiff – Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd. claims to be the registered proprietor and user of the trademarks ‘Flipkart’ and ‘The Big Billion day’ and their variants. The Plaintiff claims to be using FLIPKART since 2007 and also operates the website www.flipkart.com. Defendant Nos. 8-19 are the alleged rogue websites, Defendant Nos. 1-7 are Domain Name Registrars (DNRs) and Defendant Nos. 20 to 28 are the Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”).

The Plaintiff in its suit contended that Defendant Nos. 8-19 are using the Plaintiff’s trademarks in respect of their rogue websites which is impacting its statutory and commercial rights. The Plaintiff further asserted that upon visiting the rogue websites, one is redirected to other websites, including pornographic websites. The Plaintiff also argued that Defendant Nos. 1-7 are permitting registration of the domain names which include, albeit surreptitiously, plaintiff’s trademark “Flipkart” and/or its variants.

The Court observed that Defendant Nos. 8-19 are deluding the public into believing that their websites are the websites of the Plaintiff. Holding that a prima facie case had been made out in favour of the Plaintiff the Court ordered that “defendant no. 8 to 19 … are restrained from using the plaintiff’s trademark and/or domain name i.e. www.flipkart.com or any other mark or domain name which is deceptively similar to the plaintiff’s trademark including the mark “The Big Billion Day” …The DNRs i.e. defendant no. 1 to 7 will block/suspend the domain names/websites of defendant nos. 8 to 19 till further orders of the court. This direction will also apply to defendant nos. 20 to 28 as well who, I am told, are the Internet Service Providers [in short “ISPs”]. 7.1 Likewise, defendant no. 29/Department of Telecommunications and defendant no. 30/Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will issue appropriate notification(s) calling upon the various ISPs licensed under them to block access to the websites of defendant nos. 8 to 19.”.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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Delhi High Court Restrains Threats Of Infringement Of Burj Al Arab’s Shape

In the matter of Designarch Consultants Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. v. Jumeirah Beach Resort LLC [I.A. No. 7792/2020 in CS(COMM) 366/2020], the Delhi High Court, vide its order dated September 10, 2020, has granted an ex parte ad interim injunction restraining Jumeirah Beach Resort LLC (Defendant) from threatening Designarch Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (Plaintiff) with respect to the shape of the Plaintiff’s building.

The Plaintiff is engaged in the construction business and is the proprietor of trademark BURJNOIDA in class 37 (for building and construction services) as of February 2, 2011, which it claims to have been using since December 24, 2010. The Plaintiff is in the process of constructing the “Burj Noida” tower and owns several copyright registrations for BURJNOIDA, including for the shape of the planned building, as well as a trademark registration for.

The Defendant issued a legal notice to the Plaintiff on August 13, 2020, alleging infringement of its trademarks BURJ AL ARAB and

 and its copyright in the shape of the ‘Burj Al Arab’ hotel building located in Dubai, UAE. The Defendant owns various trademark registrations for its mark BURJ AL ARAB in India, but allegedly not in respect of construction services. The Plaintiff had filed the instant suit seeking a permanent injunction against the Defendant, to restrain it from making allegedly groundless threats of trademark and copyright infringement.

The Plaintiff contended that there is no infringement as the word ‘Burj’ means ‘tower’ in Arabic and it is a commonly used dictionary term, thereby being publici juris. The Plaintiff further contended that the shape of its planned BURJ NOIDA building is dissimilar to the shape of the Defendant’s BURJ AL ARAB building.

The Court held that “the Plaintiffs have also placed on record material to show that the shape of defendant’s building is also not unique and there are other buildings with similar shapes. Considering the averments in the plaint and the documents filed therewith, the plaintiff has made out the prima facie case in its favour”. Accordingly, the Court directed the Defendant to give the Plaintiff 7 days’ notice before initiating any proceeding claiming infringement of the Defendant’s trademarks or shape marks. The Court also granted an ex parte ad interim injunction restraining the Defendant from extending any threat to the Plaintiff in respect of the Plaintiff’s registered mark/ logo or designs of the Plaintiff’s building until the next hearing.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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Proven Association Of Trademarks With Goods – A Parameter To Determine “Due Cause”

In the matter of M/s. Arudra Engineers Private Limited v. M/s. Pathanjali Ayurved Limited & Anr. [O.A. No. 258 of 2020, A. Nos. 1532 and 1533 of 2020 in C.S. No. 163 of 2020], the Madras High Court, vide its order dated August 6, 2020, granted an interim injunction restraining the Defendants from using the mark ‘CORONIL’ in relation to immunity boosting tablets for cold, cough and fever.

The Plaintiff is the registered proprietor of the marks ‘CORONIL-92 B’ and ‘CORONIL-213 SPL’ since 1993, in relation to chemical cleaning agents used for preventing corrosion of machinery. The Defendant No. 2 (Divya Yog Mandir Trust) is the applicant for the mark CORONIL in relation to tablets which were manufactured and initially marketed by Defendant No. 1 as the cure for COVID-19. Upon seeing such marketing, the Plaintiff filed the instant suit for infringement of its CORONIL marks under Section 29(4) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999. This Section provides that a registered trademark having a reputation is infringed by an identical or similar mark being used in respect of dissimilar goods and services and use of which “without due cause takes unfair advantage of or is detrimental to, the distinctive character or repute of the registered trade mark” (emphasis supplied). The plaintiff was granted an ex parte interim injunction, which the Defendants subsequently applied to have suspended and vacated.

The Plaintiff argued that owing to lack of evidence of efficacy of the tablets in treating/preventing COVID-19, the Defendants lacked “due cause” for adoption and use of ‘CORONIL’, which was resulting in dilution of the Plaintiff’s mark. The Defendants contended that there was no infringement as their goods were completely dissimilar to the Plaintiff’s goods and their adoption of the mark CORONIL was justified as it is an immunity booster against the Coronavirus.

The Court held that in the absence of evidence of efficacy against COVID-19, the Defendants’ adoption and use of CORONIL was without “due cause” under Section 29(4)(c) of the Act. Further, while confirming the interim injunction, the Court recognized the Plaintiff’s reputation and rights in the mark and held:“It is also detrimental to the repute of the registered trademark Coronil of the plaintiff since…the general public might question whether the trademark ‘Coronil’ of the plaintiff would also not prevent corrosion by drawing the analogy of the ‘Coronil’ of the defendants, which does not cure Coronavirus…”.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

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Satire Web Portal restrained from sharing fake news on account of infringement and disparagement

In the matter of Anhueser Busch Llc vs Rishav Sharma & Ors [IAs 6320/2020, 6321/2020, 6322/2020 & 6323/2020 in CS(COMM) 288/2020], a Single Judge [Justice V. Kameswar Rao] of the High Court of Delhi, vide  order dated July 30, 2020, granted an ad interim injunction restraining the Defendants from, inter alia, broadcasting the alleged fake news of the Plaintiff’s employees urinating in its ‘Budweiser’ beer.

Defendant Nos. 1, 2 and 3 (“Defendants”) are the alleged proprietors of the website www.thefauxy.com. The Plaintiff argued that the Defendants’ posts (which include a short video) on social media, such as YouTube (Defendant No. 4) and Twitter (Defendant No. 5), perpetrated fake news stating that the Plaintiff’s employees have been urinating in its ‘Budweiser’ beer sold to the customers. The Defendants’ social media posts, as per the Plaintiff, contain no disclaimer that such news is fake or fictitious.

Alleging trademark infringement and disparagement, the Plaintiff submitted that the aforesaid video became viral and resulted in several defamatory posts across social media. Further, the Plaintiff submitted that a few publications even reported the fictitious news as being a legitimate fact. The Plaintiff contended that the Defendants have knowingly and with malice published the defamatory posts to propagate the fictitious/fake news of the Plaintiff’s employees urinating in the Budweiser beer sold to the customers.

Observing that the Plaintiff has made out a prima-facie case and established the balance of convenience in its favour, the Court held “… it is directed that the defendant Nos. 1, 2 and 3 defendant Nos. 1, 2 and 3, their partners, agents, assigns, officers, servants, affiliated entities, as the case may be, and all others acting for and on their behalf are restrained from reproducing, broadcasting, communicating to the public, screening, publishing and distributing the impugned video or any other video on any media or platform and promoting the impugned video on various social media amounting to infringement of plaintiff’s registered mark ‘Budweiser’ and also amounting to commercial disparagement of the plaintiff’s products including but not limited to the video / post published on the following four URLs till the next date of hearing….”.

Disclaimer: Views, opinions, interpretations are solely those of the author, not of the firm (ALG India Law Offices LLP) nor reflective thereof. Author submissions are not checked for plagiarism or any other aspect before being posted.

Copyright: ALG India Law Offices LLP.

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