E-commerce platforms must prevent unauthorized sellers from using trademarks, as this constitutes passing off under trademark law, thereby protecting intellectual property rights in the digital marketplace.

JUDGMENT

Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)

CS (COMM) 492/2022

1. Let the Plaint be registered as a suit.

2. Issue summons to the Defendants through all modes upon filing of Process Fee. Summons is accepted by Mr. Sidharth Chopra, on behalf of Defendant No.1-Flipkart.

3. A written statement to the Plaint shall be positively filed within 30 days. Along with the written statement, the Defendant No.1 shall also file an affidavit of admission/denial of the documents of the Plaintiff, without which the written statement shall not be taken on record.

4. Liberty is given to the Plaintiff to file a replication within 15 days of the receipt of the written statement(s). Along with the replication, if any, filed by the Plaintiff, an affidavit of admission/denial of documents of the Defendant No.1, be filed by the Plaintiff, without which the replication shall not be taken on record. If any of the parties wish to seek inspection of any documents, the same shall be sought and given within the timelines.

5. List on 26th September, 2022, before the Joint Registrar for marking of exhibits. It is made clear that any party unjustifiably denying documents would be liable to be burdened with costs.

6. List on 11th November, 2022, before Court.

I.A.11270/2022 (u/O XXXIX Rules 1 & 2 CPC)

7. The present suit has been filed seeking permanent and mandatory injunction restraining trademark and copyright infringement, passing off, delivery up, rendition of accounts, damages and other reliefs. The Plaintiff - Mr. Akash Aggarwal is the sole proprietor of an entity operating under the mark/name `V Tradition', which is engaged in the business of sale of clothing for women on various retail e-commerce platforms, such as `Amazon', `Meesho', `Myntra', as also, that of Defendant No.1-Flipkart. The details of the marks of the Plaintiff are set out below:

Trademark	App No.	App Date	STATUS
V TRADITION	4644238	07//09/2020	Pending
	5258052	23/12/2021	Pending (Class 25)
	5337646	21102/2022	Pending (Class 25)

8. The case of the Plaintiff is that he uses the mark/name `V Tradition' in respect of all garments manufactured and sold by him. The Plaintiff avers that he started manufacturing and selling his products under the mark/name `V Tradition' since August, 2020, on the e-commerce platform-Flipkart. He claims that he has received more than, approximately, 2.5 lakhs orders from Flipkart itself, with 1.41 crores clicks. The Plaintiff's products under the mark `V Tradition' have achieved a total sale of approximately Rs.18 crores on Flipkart itself, since December, 2020. It is submitted that the Plaintiff's products have more than 82,000 consumer reviews on Flipkart. On all the products sold by the Plaintiff, the mark `V Tradition' is prominently visible on his product listings on Flipkart. The Plaintiff claims to be spending a substantial amount of money on the creation of garments for women, as also, on engaging women models who wear the garments made by the Plaintiff, and whose photographs are used for showcasing and promoting the Plaintiff's products on the e-commerce platforms.

9. In the present suit, the grievance of the Plaintiff against Flipkart is that the said platform is encouraging and allowing third-party sellers to `latch on' and use the mark `V Tradition', along with the photographs of the Plaintiff's products, on the said platform. By doing so, several third-party sellers which are not connected to the Plaintiff, are able to portray themselves as `V Tradition' and ride on the popularity of the products and designs