Delhi High Court: In a case wherein the plaintiff, TTK Prestige Ltd. alleged that the defendant, Gupta Light House infringed the design of a cooker, registered in favour of the plaintiff, C. Hari Shankar, J., opined that the defendant’s pressure cookers were imitative of the suit designs and a clear case of piracy within the meaning of Section 22(1) of the Designs Act, 2000 (‘Act’) existed. However, the Court further held that due to the expiry of the suit design in 2019, it was now in the public domain and there could be no judgment or decree restraining use of the suit design by anyone. Further, the Court held that the plaintiff was entitled to a decree of rendition of accounts against the defendant.
Background
The plaintiff pleaded infringement, by the defendant, of the design of a cooker, registered in favour of the plaintiff by the Design Office in the Patent Office. The certificate of registration certified that novelty resided in respect of the shape and configuration of the cooker. The plaintiff alleged that the design of the pressure cookers manufactured and sold by the defendant were obviously or fraudulently imitative of the registered suit designs, within the meaning of Section 22(1) of the Act and that, therefore, the defendant was guilty of design piracy.
Comparison of the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s Pressure Handi Cookers
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Plaintiff's Pressure Handi Cookers |
Defendant's Pressure Handi Cookers |
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Analysis, Law, and Decision
The Court noted that the plaintiff was the holder of valid registration for its cooker, granted on 13-12-2004. The Court observed that the certificate of registration clearly stated that novelty resided in the shape and configuration of the cooker and a glance at the cooker made it apparent that it did not bear the conventional shape of a cooker but had a bulging mid/lower section, which was not ordinarily found in cookers. Thus, the design of the plaintiff’s cooker had clear distinctive eye appeal, which was one of the definitive criteria for entitlement to registration as a design.
The Court opined that a comparison of the suit design with the defendant’s product, and also a comparison of the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s product themselves, made it clear that the design of the defendant’s product was imitative of the suit design and in the absence of any photograph or other representation of a pressure cooker bearing a design similar to the suit design, dating prior to 13-12-2004, it could not be said that the suit design was bad for prior publication. It was quite possible that, in view of the novelty of the suit design, other manufacturers had copied it.
The Court noted that the suit design had expired, by efflux of time, in 2019 and thus, the Court held that the counsel for the defendant was right in his submission that, due to the expiry, the suit design was now in the public domain and there could be no judgment or decree restraining use of the suit design by anyone at this point of time. However, the Court opined that the defendant’s pressure cookers were imitative of the suit designs and a clear case of piracy within the meaning of Section 22(1) of the Act existed.
The Court held that the present suit was decreed by directing the defendant to render accounts by filing on affidavit the details of the earnings made by the defendant by sale of the pressure cookers bearing the impugned designs, from the beginning, duly certified by a Chartered Accountant. The Court further granted liberty to the plaintiff to proceed against the defendant for recovery of damages if it so chooses. The Court also held that the plaintiff shall also be entitled to actual costs of the present litigation and for the purpose of computation of costs, the matter would next be listed before the Taxation Officer of this Court on 29-8-2023.
[TTK Prestige Ltd. v. Gupta Light House, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 4386, Order dated 24-7-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Plaintiff: Manish Kr. Mishra, Akansha Singh, Saloni Kasliwal, Advocates;
For the Defendant: Kunal Khanna, Manish Singhal, Advocates.
