The court upheld that the plaintiff, as the registered proprietor of the well-known trademark 'CROMA', is entitled to injunction against the defendants' similar use and domain name registration, establishing grounds for irreparable loss.

ORDER

I.A. No. 1542/2022 (of the plaintiff under Section 80(2) of the CPC seeking exemption from Advance Notice to defendants No.3 and 4 as prescribed under the CPC).

1. For the reasons stated in the application, the same is allowed.

2. The application stands disposed of.

I.A. Nos.1540/2022 & 1541/2022 (exemptions)

3. Allowed, subject to all just exceptions.

4. The application stands disposed of.

I.A. 1539/2022 (of the plaintiff under Order 11 Rule 1 (4) of the CPC (as amended by the Commercial Courts Act, 2015) read with Section 151 of the CPC seeking leave to file additional documents)

5. For the reasons stated in the application, the same is allowed.

6. The additional documents be filed within four weeks with copies to the opposite side.

7. The application stands disposed of.

CS(COMM) 71/2022, I.A. Nos.1538/2022 (of the plaintiff under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 read with Section 151 of the CPC) &1543/2022 (of the plaintiff under Section 151 of the CPC seeking exemption from going through Pre-institution Mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015)

8. The plaint be registered as a suit.

9. This is a suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of trade mark, passing off, dilution, tarnishment, damages and rendition of accounts.

10. Issue summons in the suit and notice in the applications to the defendants.

11. Mr. Manish Mohan, Advocate, accepts summons and notices in the applications on behalf of the defendants No.3 & 4 and seeks time to file written statement to the suit and replies to the applications. The same be filed along with the affidavit of admission/denial of the documents filed by the plaintiff within thirty days with advance copies to the plaintiff.

12. Summons and notice be issued to the defendants no.1 and 2 by all permissible modes, returnable before the Joint Registrar on the next date of hearing.

13. The summons shall indicate that the written statement(s) to the suit and reply(ies) to the application(s) be filed by the defendants within thirty days from the date of receipt of the summons. The defendants shall also file the affidavit of admission/denial of the documents filed by the plaintiff, failing which the written statement(s) shall not be taken on record.

14. The plaintiff is at liberty to file replication(s) to the written statement(s) and rejoinder(s) to the reply(ies) filed by the defendants within thirty days following the filing of the written statement(s)/reply(ies). The replication(s) shall be accompanied by the affidavit of admission/denial in respect of the documents filed by the defendants, failing which the replication(s) shall not be taken on record.

15. If any of the parties wish to seek inspection of any documents, the same shall be sought and given within the time lines.

16. At this juncture, Ms. Kruttika Vijay, learned counsel for the plaintiff, seeks interim directions relying on the order passed by a Coordinate Bench of this Court in Infiniti Retail Limited Vs. M/s The Croma through its Proprietor & Ors., order dated 24th December, 2020 in CS(COMM) 577/2020.

17. It is submitted by the learned counsel that the plaintiff is the registered proprietor of the well-known trademark `CROMA' and other stylized variants such as, etc. as also the domain name `www.croma.com'. It is stated that through its numerous physical stores and the website for consumer electronic and durables, the plaintiff has earned great reputation. The first CROMA store had been opened in the year 2006 and the name `CROMA' has been in an uninterrupted and extensive use since t