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“The registration of the plaintiff’s mark in the year 1972, prima facie, granted an exclusive right to the plaintiff to use it, which was infringed when the defendants used the impugned mark METRO FOOTWEAR.”
The Delhi High Court said that while trade mark registration offers statutory benefits, it does not obliterate prior common law rights established through actual use and accrued goodwill in the market.
The Court stated that mere addition of prefix and/or suffix to the impugned mark is inconsequential, thus, it rejected Dubond Products India’s contention that the use of the word “HYDROBUILD” before “LW” in the impugned marks is sufficient to distinguish from the marks of Pidilite Industries.
Kent Cables who is admittedly prior registrant of the trade mark ‘KENT’ has, prima facie, succeeded in showing ‘prior user’ and adoption of the trade mark ‘KENT’ for fans.
“Disclaimers do not go to the market and a common man of average intelligence or the average consumer would have no knowledge of any disclaimers present in a trademark registration.”