JUDGMENT :

1. “Some men do as much begrudge others a good name, as they want one themselves: and perhaps that is the reason of it." — William Penn.

2. The present suit is filed by the Plaintiff against the Defendants claiming infringement of its registered trade marks; infringement of copyright and passing off. Vide order dated 26th February 2019, the Leave Petition taken out by the Plaintiff under Clause XIV of the Letters Patent, Bombay for combining the cause of action for passing off with the cause of action for infringement of trade mark and copyright, has already been allowed.

3. The matter was heard at length in the past, when Mr. Hiren Kamod, the Ld. Counsel for the Plaintiff and Mr. P. Mukherjee, Ld. Senior Advocate for the Defendant, made extensive submissions. The parties have also filed their respective Written Submissions. Since, because of the pandemic some time had lapsed, today the above Notice of Motion was once again kept for hearing. I have heard Mr. Kamod and Mr. Mukherjee in detail. They submit that their respective written submissions are exhaustive and include all of their respective contentions.

4. From a perusal of the entire record and after hearing the submissions, according to me, the moot question that requires consideration in the present case is whether the Defendants’ use of the trade mark and/or trade name containing ‘RPG’ as its only leading, essential and prominent feature in respect of their services is likely to cause confusion or deception in the minds of the public so as to mistake or associate the same with the Plaintiff or the services offered by the Plaintiff under its RPG trade marks.

FACTS LEADING TO THE DISPUTE

5. The Plaintiff claims to be a multi-industry Indian conglomerate, consisting of over fifteen companies across core sectors of the economy. Over the years, the Plaintiff has diversified into various business fields with primary areas of businesses being tyres, infrastructure, information technology, pharmaceuticals, energy, senior care, e-commerce and plantations. The Plaintiff’s history is traced back to 1900s through the Goenka Family, when the Goenka Family established themselves in diverse business sectors like banking, textiles, jute and tea. In 1950, the Goenka Family acquired two British trading houses - Duncan Brothers and Octavius Steel. After successful acquisitions in the areas of tea, automobile, tyre, jute, cotton textile and electric cables, Late Shri Keshav Prasad Goenka passed on his business empire to his three sons. One of the sons, Shri Rama Prasad Goenka, established RPG Enterprises in 1979 and initially encompassed Phillips Carbon Black, Asian Cables, Agarpara Jute and Murphy India companies.

6. According to the Plaintiff, in the year 1979, the Plaintiff honestly adopted the distinctive and unique trade mark RPG, i.e. an acronym derived from the initials of its founder, Mr. Rama Prasad Goenka, a known industrialist. Over the subsequent years, the Plaintiff and its group companies, have adopted various stylized / formative trade marks incorporating the mark RPG in respect of their various products and services. It is stated that Plaintiff has been actively involved in various charitable endeavours through its trust viz. RPG Foundation and RPG Academy of Art and Culture and its activities have touched the lives of a significant population which enhances the brand value associated with RPG. Documents in respect of the above CSR activities are at Exhibit-F to the Plaint.

7. It is the Plaintiff’s case that it has been using the aforesaid RPG Marks continuously, extensively and uninterruptedly in respect of its products and services, in the sense of a trade mark, trade name as well as trading style, and therefore, the mark RPG has become a source identifier of the Plaintiff and its goods / services thereunder. The Plaintiff has applied for and secured registration