{"id":329662,"date":"2024-08-30T16:30:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=329662"},"modified":"2024-09-03T17:00:37","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T11:30:37","slug":"delhi-high-court-restrains-book-houses-from-manufacturing-and-selling-ebc-counterfeit-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2024\/08\/30\/delhi-high-court-restrains-book-houses-from-manufacturing-and-selling-ebc-counterfeit-products\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon, Flipkart & Snapdeal directed to stop selling counterfeit copies of EBC\u2019s books; Delhi HC restrains parties from printing & selling counterfeit copies of EBC books"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Delhi High Court:<\/span> In a suit filed by Eastern Book Company (\u2018EBC\u2019), seeking urgent interim relief against sale of counterfeit copies of its books, and ex-parte appointment of Local Commissioners, Sanjeev Narula, J. restrained the defendants from manufacturing, publishing, offering for sale, advertising, using, exporting, printing, directly or indirectly selling or dealing in products, including, but not limited to books under the trade marks \u2018EBC\u2019 and \u2018Eastern Book Company\u2019.<\/p>\n

Further, the Court appointed Local Commissioners (\u2018Commissioners\u2019) to enter the premises of book houses or any other locations, along with a representative of EBC and their counsel, and seize the counterfeit materials.<\/p>\n

Background:<\/p>\n

EBC is the leading publisher of legal textbooks, commentaries, and law reports authored by legal luminaries, under the trade marks \u2018Eastern Book Company\u2019 and \u2018EBC\u2019. This case was concerned with the violation of EBC\u2019s intellectual property rights through the sale of pirated\/counterfeit books sold under its mark\/name by various book houses, namely, Wave Choice Cover, Lawbook hub, Top Book, Fancy Shopping World, Book House, Turning point, Manika Creation, Devi Enterprises, Parents Responsibility, Simra Collection, Renu Devi, Chapter One Publication, Rajesh Ranjan Pandey, Shivam Kumar, Books 123, Suman, Bookestan, on the e-commerce platforms operated by Amazon, and Flipkart and Snapdeal.<\/p>\n

In February 2024, EBC started receiving multiple consumer complaints concerning the quality of the publications purchased through Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal. Further, enquiries revealed that certain book houses are manufacturing and selling pirated versions of their textbooks through the e-commerce platforms.<\/p>\n

Analysis and Decision:<\/p>\n

The Court noted that the books sold by EBC are uniquely identified by the hologram stickers affixed on the covers of the book and the International Standard Book Number and International Standard Serial Number issued for publications and serial publications, respectively. EBC has also developed a website \u2018www.ebcwebstore.com\u2019 for the sole purpose of sale of books.<\/p>\n

The Court further noted that the trade marks, and their formative variants are registered in favour of EBC in classes 09, 16, 35, 41, and 42. In addition to their trade mark rights, EBC also asserts exclusive ownership of the copyright over the literary works entailed in the books published by them.<\/p>\n

The Court said that the counterfeit versions offered by the book houses are nearly identical to the original books, except for minor differences that may go unnoticed by the consumers.<\/p>\n

The Court also considered some of the major differences between the original and counterfeit books and took note of the search results of ‘EBC books’ on Snapdeal, Amazon and Flipkart and the images of the counterfeit books.<\/p>\n

The Court said that EBC has the exclusive right to publish the afore-mentioned textbooks, and the book houses have no authority to either publish or reprint the same without EBC\u2019s consent. Further, the Court said that, as these books do not originate from EBC, they may also contain incorrect or outdated information, which could damage EBC\u2019s well-established reputation. After noting that the book houses have entirely replicated the make and design of the EBC\u2019s books , the Court said that the consumers purchasing the infringing books through online modes will be unable to identify the points of distinction, which would typically manifest in physical copies of the books.<\/p>\n

The Court noted that the book houses are also prima facie<\/span> using EBC\u2019s registered trade marks on their products without EBC\u2019s approval, resulting in infringement of their trade marks, and remarked that \u201cthese activities can possibly cause financial losses to EBC and damage their reputation and goodwill. Thus, it is a clear case of trade mark and copyright infringement<\/span>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Thus, the Court was convinced that EBC has fulfilled all the three conditions for the grant of an ex-parte injunction, which are:<\/p>\n