Delhi High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Jayant Nath, JJ., disposed of a suit before it. The suit was filed seeking a decree of permanent injunction to restrain the defendant, it’s partners, employees etc from using the offending trademark KWALTY and/or the offending bottle shape as represented in the plaint and/or any other mark which is deceptively or confusingly similar to the registered trade mark KINLEY and DANUBE BOTTLE shape of Plaintiff 1 as a trade mark or part of a trademark or any other mark to infringe the plaintiff’s trade mark.
The Court noted that Plaintiff 1 is the registered proprietor of the trademarks DANUBE BOTTLE shape, KINLEY and KINLEY (label). The trademark shape was first adopted in 2006 in Turkey and has seen use since 2008 in India. The shape is associated with considerable goodwill and reputation. It was pleaded that the plaintiffs have invested enormous amounts of money towards protection, promotion and advertising of the trade mark KINLEY. The defendant had, apart from copying the shape of the bottle, also adopted a label virtually identical to the KINLEY (label) of the plaintiff.
The defendant was served through publication but had refused to accept service. The defendants were proceeded against “ex-parte”. No one appeared for the defendant and also no written statement was filed. The defendant continued to flout the interim orders passed by the Court and hence, the plaintiffs were declared to be free to pursue any action as per law against the defendant. [The Coca-Cola Company v. Mr. Dwarkanath, 2018 SCC OnLine Del 7406, decided on 15.02.2018]
