Delhi High Court: Plaintiff, Kamal Kant and Company LLP filed the present suit against defendant, Raashee Fragrances India Pvt. Ltd. seeking injunction from using the mark ‘RAASHEE’. Prathiba M. Singh, J.*, restrained defendant from using the trademark ‘RAASHEE’ or any other mark which was identical or deceptively similar to plaintiff’s mark ‘RAJSHREE’ in respect of pan masala, mouth freshners, scented supari, betel nuts of zarda mix, pan masala like gutka, zarda, safrani and other chewing tobacco, khaini, tobacco products, tobacco raw or any other cognate and allied goods or services.
Background
Plaintiff was engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of pan masala, chewing tobacco, supari mixture, Zaffrani Patti, Zarda and other allied and cognate items since 1965 and these products were sold under the mark ‘RAJSHREE’ bearing registrations in classes 6, 29, 31 and 34.
Plaintiff came across the trade mark application by defendant in classes 34 and 31 respectively for the mark ‘RAASHEE’ label and the mark was used in respect of similar business as that of plaintiff, that is, zarda mix, pan masala including gutkha, zarda, safrani, khaini, mouth freshners, scented supari, betel nuts, agricultural and other cognate, and allied goods. Defendants had been claiming user since 2009 and plaintiff upon coming across these trade mark applications opposed the said marks. Though the company was live and active by defendant, the mark ‘RAASHEE’ was abandoned by defendant, as on the date of filing of the suit. Plaintiff, however, felt a reasonable apprehension in the use of the mark ‘RAASHEE’ by defendant and hence, filed the present suit.
Analysis, Law, and Decision
On 11-12-2023, an option to consider adding a prefix to the mark ‘RAASHEE’ was suggested to defendant, so as to distinguish itself from plaintiff’s mark and defendant had agreed to change the mark to ‘मेरी राशी’ in Hindi and to ‘MY RAASHEE’ in English. The Court noted that this proposal was acceptable to plaintiff so long as defendant did not give undue prominence to the word ‘RAASHEE’ and did not copy the colour combination, get up, lay out or the arrangement of plaintiff’s ‘RAJSHREE’ paan masala packaging.
The Court restrained defendant from using the trade mark ‘RAASHEE’ or any other mark which was identical or deceptively similar to plaintiff’s mark ‘RAJSHREE’ in respect of pan masala, mouth freshners, scented supari, betel nuts of zarda mix, pan masala like gutka, zarda, safrani and other chewing tobacco, khaini, tobacco products, tobacco raw or any other cognate and allied goods or services.
The Court held that defendant was, however, free to use the two proposed marks, i.e., 
and 
, so long as the said marks were used in a manner where the words ‘MY’ or ‘मेरी’ were of the same font, colour and size as the word ‘RAASHEE’. Further, defendant while adopting the above two proposed marks, should, however, ensure that the packaging, get up and lay out was not in any manner imitative of the Plaintiff’s ‘RAJSHREE’ paan masala packaging. The Court held that a cost of Rs 50,000 should be paid to the Counsels for plaintiff.
[Kamal Kant and Company LLP v. Raashee Fragrances India (P) Ltd., 2024 SCC OnLine Del 562, decided on 23-01-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Plaintiff: Abhishek Malhotra, Kartikay Dutta, Advocates
For the Defendant: Sagar Chandra, Nikhil Sonker, Advocates
