The court granted a permanent injunction in favor of the plaintiff for trademark infringement, recognizing 'Officer’s Choice' as a well-known mark and emphasizing the irreparable harm from the defendants' use of 'Principal Choice'.

JUDGMENT :

TUSHAR RAO GEDELA, J.

I.A. 8813/2025 (Application for Summary Judgement under Order XIIIA Rules 3 & 6(1)(a) read with Section 151 of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908)

1. This is an application filed on behalf of the plaintiff under Order XIIIA, Rules 3 and 6(1)(a) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (“CC Act”) read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPC”), seeking a summary judgement.

2. The plaintiff has filed the present suit for a decree of permanent injunction restraining the defendants from infringement of its registered trademarks “Officer’s Choice”, “Officer’s Choice Blue” and “Choice” and for other ancillary reliefs of passing off, damages, rendition of accounts, delivery up and costs.

3. The facts as stated in the plaint are that the plaintiff is the owner of the trademark “Officer’s Choice’’, which was coined and adopted in 1988 by its predecessor. The mark was then acquired by way of an assignment dated 26.02.1991. The said mark has been used in various label forms and variants for different alcohol products of the plaintiff. It is claimed that the products sold under the name “Officer’s Choice” are extremely popular and it was rated as the highest selling whisky in the world. The plaintiff’s “Officer’s Choice” products are sold under, inter alia, the following proprietary, unique and distinctive labels and packaging:

4. The mark “Officer’s Choice” is also registered in a large number of classes with the earliest registration dating back to 1988. The mark “Officer’s Choice” is registered not merely in English but also in other regional languages such as Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, etc. The plaintiff has a large volume of sales under the said mark.

5. It is the case of the plaintiff that its trademark “Officer’s Choice” has been declared as a well-known trademark under Section 2 (zg) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) by this Court in CS(COMM) 1227/2016 titled “Allied Blenders and Distillers Pvt. Ltd vs. Surya Rao Trading as Leo Foods & Beverages” decided on 16.01.2017.

6. It is claimed that the plaintiff’s “Officer’s Choice” trademarks and labels have acquired substantial reputation and goodwill through extensive use and promotion. The plaintiff has a large volume of sales under the said mark. As of the year 2021-22, the annual sales under the mark “Officer’s Choice” is more than 16 lakh cases.

7. The plaintiff states that as a result of the continuous and extensive use of the “Officer’s Choice” label/mark since 1988, spanning over a wide geographical area coupled with vast promotion and publicity, the trademark/label enjoys an unparalleled reputation and goodwill in the market and even serves as a source identifier of the plaintiff’s whisky products both in India and abroad.

8. The plaintiff further states that the “Officer’s Choice” trademark is unique to the plaintiff, its products and business and has acquired a secondary meaning by virtue of continuous and extensive use and promotion ever since it was first adopted by the plaintiff in the year 1988 and has therefore come to be associated exclusively with the plaintiff.

9. It is the case of the plaintiff that the defendants are manufacturing, selling, and offering for sale alcohol products under the mark “Principal Choice”, “Principal Choice Premium Whisky”. The said product is bottled and blended by defendant no.1/Batra Breweries and Distilleries Pvt. Ltd., which is also the bottler of the plaintiff. The said infringing product is marketed by defendant No.2 - M/s. Jaswant Industries, Jalandhar, Punjab. The trademark applications bearing nos. 5865065 and 6044168 qua the defendants’ products