Trademark infringement and passing off were established based on the Defendant's imitation of the Plaintiff's packaging and marks, supported by the Plaintiff's continuous use of trademarks and uncontroverted evidence.

JUDGMENT

Sanjeev Narula, J. (Oral)--This judgment shall decide a lawsuit initiated by the Plaintiff, a company engaged in the manufacturing and distribution of tobacco products under various versions of the "GOPAL" trademark. The Plaintiff has filed this action seeking a permanent injunction to prohibit the Defendant from using the "GOURI GREEN" or "GOURI 700" marks, alleging that use of such marks by the Defendant constitutes infringement and passing off, resulting in the violation of its registered trademarks and copyright.

PLAINTIFF'S CASE

2. The Plaintiff is a part of the Gopal Group, which was established in 1942 and has since become a prominent player in the manufacturing and sale of tobacco products including, chewing tobacco, zarda, pan-masala, betel spice, pan-chatni. In 1950, the Plaintiff adopted the "GOPAL" mark, named after Mr. Sri Gopal Gupta, the Chairman and Partner, who holds highest stake in the Plaintiff company. Since its adoption, the "GOPAL" mark has been consistently used by the Plaintiff in combination with a logo depicting Lord Krishna playing the flute with a cow in the background, referred to as the "Lord Krishna device" hereinafter. This logo is often accompanied by various prefixes or suffixes to "GOPAL", associated with the afore-mentioned products. Furthermore, the trademark "GOPAL" is an integral and prominently displayed component of the Plaintiff's corporate name and trading style.

3. Over the course of its business operations, the Plaintiff has successfully obtained over a hundred trademark registrations for various forms of the "GOPAL" mark in class 34. Provided below is an illustrative list of the Plaintiff's trademark registrations:

4. In addition to its trademark rights, Plaintiff also possesses copyright registrations in several of its labels/artistic works, such as "[IMG]", "[IMG]", "[IMG]" and "[IMG]".

5. Plaintiff has developed a series of trade dresses for packaging, pouches, labels and containers of its products, all of which distinctly and prominently display "GOPAL" with the Lord Krishna device. Over the course of seventy years, Plaintiff has consistently employed various versions of "GOPAL" trademarks. On account of widespread use and popularity, evidenced by annual sales of approximately Rs.376.96 crores in 2018-19 and expenditure of Rs.2.49 crores towards promotional activities, Plaintiff is recognised as the sole source of tobacco and related products sold under the "GOPAL" trademarks.

6. The present suit pertains to the imitation of layout, get-up and colour scheme of Plaintiff's "[IMG]" and "[IMG]" products by the Defendant. The Defendant - Shib Shakti Gopla Zarda Factory, produces chewing tobacco under the trademarks "GOURI GREEN" and "GOURI 700", in conjunction with a logo of Lord Shiva. The Plaintiff is also aggrieved with adoption of trade name `Shib Shakti Gopla Zarda Factory', which is deceptively similar to Plaintiff's trademark. Plaintiff's investigation revealed that Defendant had submitted trademark application No. 2837212 to register "[IMG]" in class 34. However, as a result of lack of follow-up actions, the said application has been deemed to be abandoned under Section 132 of the Trademarks Act, 1999, following the order issued by the Trademarks Registry on 14th October, 2017.

7. Hence, the Defendant's decision to adopt the impugned marks and packaging that bear a striking resemblance to the Plaintiff's registered marks, such as "GOPAL", "GOPAL GRENE" and "GOPAL 100" is a clear infringement of Plaintiff's rights. This adoption also violates the Plaintiff's common law rights in the trade get-up.

PROCEEDINGS THIS FAR

8. On 31st January, 2020,