The main legal point established in the judgment is the protection of commercial goodwill and reputation in trade mark infringement and passing off actions, emphasizing the prohibition of deceptively similar trade names and the importance of preventing confusion and deception among consumers.

S. ABDUL NAZEER, J.

( 1 ) THE defendant in O. S. 6/2001 on the file of the I Additional District Judge, Belgaum, has filed this appeal challenging the Order on. A. No. 1 filed by the plaintiff under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

( 2 ) FOR the sake of convenience, the parties will be referred to by their respective ranks before the trial Court.

( 3 ) THE plaintiff has filed the said suit for permanent injunction restraining the defendant, their servants or agents any one of them claiming through them in any manner infringing the plaintiffs well established trade mark 'sukhsagar' or any other trade mark which are in any way deceptively similar to the plaintiffs trade mark and trading style in respect of preparation of food items by using offending trade mark and for certain other reliefs. The plaintiff has averred that it has been using the trade mark 'sukhsagar' since 1976. The artistic work, design and get up in respect of the said trademark exclusively belong to it. The trade mark 'sukhsagar' has become popular all over India and that the said trade mark exclusively belongs to it and none else. At present it is running three branches at Bangalore and one at Mumba. It is plaining to start a new hotel at Belgaum under the said trade mark shortly. With a view to protect the trading style and logo, it has secured the registration of its trade mark under Trade and Merchandise Act, 1958 and the same is registered under Nos. 465792, 465793 and 465794 respectively and the same has been renewed from time to time and is valid and subsisting. It has also given the details of its sales turnover and advertisement expenses from the date of inception,. e. , 1976 till 2001-2002.

( 4 ) PLAINTIFF has further contended that the defendant has started selling vegetarian food preparations by using the said trade mark and that the trade name adopted by the defendant is phonetically and visually similar to its trademark. It is alleged that the defendant who is aware of the trade mark has fraudulently adopted "sukhsagar' for preparation of vegetarian food products in order to deceive the customers and in order to encash the goodwill which has been earned by the plaintiff over a number of years. In the application filed under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, seeking grant of an order of temporary injunction, plaintiff has reiterated the averments made in the plaint. It has further stated that the defendant is infringing its trade mark and it is also liable for passing off an action. The plaintiff has further stated that it will be suffer great loss and irreparable injury if an order of injunction is not granted in its favour and that the balance of convenience is in its favour.

( 5 ) THE defendant has filed its objections. It has contended that it is running its business in lodging under the name and style "shri Sukhsagar Hotel" and that it has never used the trade mark of the plaintiff. According to the defendant, the trade mark of the plaintiff is "m/s sukhsagar Enterprises" and there is a substantial difference between the two names and trade marks and that the nature of the business carried on by the defendant is different from that of the plaintiff. The name of the defendant is in no way deceptively similar to that of the plaintiff. It is the case of the defendant that it is running its business in lodging and at no point of time it is engaged in running any vegetarian restaurant and that at no time it has adopted the trade mark of the plaintiff. IA has filed additional objections to. A. No. I contending that the building comprised in CTS Nos. 10618/1, 10618/2 and 10618/3 belongs to a partnership firm known as "shri Sukhsagar Hotel". The defendant and his two sons are its partners. After completion of the building, shops on the ground floor have been let out to different tenants and on the first floor the defendant is running lodging under the name and style "shri Sukhsagar Hotel". The lod

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