JUDGMENT

Manmohan Singh, J. This order shall dispose of the following applications filed by the parties:

a) IA No.4119/2011 under Order XXXIX Rules 1 & 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the CPC) filed by the plaintiff.

b) IA No.5677/2011 under Order XXXIX Rule 4 CPC filed by defendant.

2. The plaintiff has filed the suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of trade mark, passing off, dilution and tarnishment of trade mark, unfair competition, rendition of accounts, damages and delivery up against the defendants, namely, Ms Kamini Jain, Mr Ashwani Jain and Kamini Creations (Exports).

3. The suit as well as the interim application were listed before the Court on 15.03.2011 and after hearing the learned counsel for the plaintiff, the summons were issued to the defendants in the suit and ad- interim injunction was passed against the defendants thereby restraining the defendants from manufacturing, fabricating, selling, distributing, storing men clothing by the brand name ZEGNA though with different spellings JENYA and MENYA. The Local Commissioner was appointed to make the inventory of the impugned goods.

4. As per the facts mentioned in the plaint, it is contended that the plaintiff is a company having its principal place of business in Italy. The plaintiff together with Lanificio Ermenegildo ZEGNA and Figli, Ermenegildo Zegna Corporation and all other remaining affiliated companies is a part of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group and are manufacturing luxury clothing for men. It is stated that on account of the business activity, the plaintiff along with the other ZEGNA Group of companies obtained registration in the trade name ZEGNA in 150 countries all over the world. The details of the registration by the plaintiff group are given in para 11 of the plaint.

5. The trade mark ZEGNA is derived from the name of Ermenegildo Zegna, the founder of the said Group Company. It is pronounced as ZEN-YAH in Italian language throughout the world including India.

6. The details of the Sales Turnover under the plaintiff's trade mark ZEGNA are as follows:

7. It is alleged that the aforesaid figures of turnover/sales have shown ascendancy of 690 million Euros and the sales 3 million Euros in the year 2009, which clearly shows that its overall turnover has been increasing.

8. It is averred that over a period of time, the plaintiff has acquired certain reputation of manufacturing, selling and exporting the branded readymade garments under the trade name ZEGNA which is also registered in India. The learned counsel has drawn the attention of the Court to the certificates of registration granted by Indian authorities.

9. The case of the plaintiff pleaded against the defendants is that some time in September, 2010, the plaintiff came to know that the defendant No. 3 is manufacturing, selling, exporting readymade garments such as shirts and trousers under the brand name JENYA and MENYA which is the proprietorship concern of defendant No.2 and the defendant No.1 is stated to be running the business in question on behalf of the defendant No.3. The main thrust of the plaintiff's arguments against the defendants is that they are selling men clothing like shirt, kurta etc. under the deceptively similar trade mark of the plaintiff and are giving an impression to the public at large that these are the goods manufactured by the plaintiff which in fact is untrue. The said act of the defendants amounts to infringement of the plaintiff's statutory rights and the defendants are violating the same with impunity and are causing harm to the goodwill and reputation of the plaintiff without any justification.

10. The defendants defence is that there is no visual, phonetic and structural similarity whatsoever. Two names, i.e., ZEGNA