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2015 Supreme(Mad) 2119
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
R. SUBBIAH, J.
Mothi Textiles, rep. by its partner K.S. Shanmugasundaram – Appellant
Versus
N. Ravichandran Handloom – Respondent
O.A. Nos. 1017 & 1018 of 2014 in C.S. No. 823 of 2014
Decided On : 08-04-2015
Advocate Appeared:
For the Applicant :R. Sathish Kumar, Advocate
For the Respondent:B. Dhanaraj, Advocate.
The court emphasized the likelihood of confusion in the market and the prima facie case made by the plaintiff to grant the interim injunction.
Headnote:
TRADEMARK - Infringement - 454606 - The court discussed the trademarks MOTHI and MOHIT, their visual and phonetic similarities, and the likelihood of confusion in the mind of consumers. The court referred to legal principles from previous cases to support its decision.
Fact of the Case:
The plaintiff, a partnership firm, has been manufacturing and marketing towels under the trademark MOTHI since 1971. The defendant started using the trademark MOHIT for identical purposes, leading to the plaintiff filing for an interim injunction.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the trademarks MOTHI and MOHIT are almost identical and the defendant's usage could create confusion in the market. The court also emphasized the prima facie case made by the plaintiff and the balance of convenience in their favor.
Issues: The main issue was the similarity between the trademarks MOTHI and MOHIT and the likelihood of confusion in the market.
Ratio Decidendi: The court relied on legal principles from previous cases to determine the likelihood of confusion and the prima facie case made by the plaintiff.
Final Decision: The court made the order of interim injunction absolute, granting relief to the plaintiff and restraining the defendant from using the trademark MOHIT pending the suit.
1. The application in O.A.No.1017 of 2014 has been filed to grant an order of ad-interim injunction restraining the respondent by himself, his men, servants, agents, distributors, stockists, representatives or any one claiming through them from in any manner infringing the applicant's registered trademark under No.454606 in class 24 and other registered trademarks by using the trademark MOHIT or any other mark deceptively similar to the plaintiff's registered trademark MOTHI or in any other manner whatsoever pending disposal of the suit.
2. The application in O.A.No.1018 of 2014 has been filed to grant an order of ad-interim injunction restraining the respondent by himself, his men, servants, agents, distributors, stockists, representatives or any one claiming through them from in any manner passing off and/or enabling others to pass off the respondent's products as and for the applicant's products by manufacturing, selling or offering to sell, distributing, displaying, printing, stocking, using, advertising products bearing trademark MOHIT or any other mark deceptively similar to the plaintiff's registered trademark MOTHI or in any other manner whatsoever pending disposal of the suit.
3. The applicant is the plaintiff and the respondent is the defendant in the suit in C.S.No.823 of 2014.
4. For the sake of convenience, the parties will be referred to as per their ranking in the civil suit.
5. The case of the plaintiff, in brief, is as follows:-
(a) The plaintiff is a registered partnership firm manufacturing and marketing towels all over India since 1971. During the course of their business, they adopted the trademark MOTHI. The trademark MOTHI is inherently distinctive of the products viz., TOWELS and as such, the same has been identified with the plaintiff ever since its inception and continues to be so. The trademark MOTHI has been registered by the plaintiff under No.454606 in Class 24 in respect of 'Handloom towels and napkins'. The said trademark label consists of a device of a pearl in an oyster alongside with the words MOTHI, TEX and TOWELS one below another. The plaintiff's label also contains the words MOTHI TEX in HINDI followed by address of the plaintiff. The said label has been registered on 26.5.1986 and has been duly renewed till date. The said trademark presently is valid and subsisting till the year 2017.
(b) The said trademark has the essential feature of the plaintiff's label. The plaintiff has made small additions to its label from time to time and is presently selling the towels with the trademark MOTHI in a distinctive label wherein alongside the above trademark label, they are also depicting a medallion and the words GOLD MEDAL WINNERS. The plaintiff has registered the MOTHI TEX label under the Copyrights Act, 1957 under No.A-14103/75 dated 8.10.1975. The plaintiff has also registered under the Copyrights Act for another MOTHI TEX label under No.A-35687/82 dated 2.2.1982 and for MOTHI word label under No.A-46907/85 dated 4.2.1985. The said copyright registrations are valid and subsisting.
(c) The plaintiff is manufacturing and selling towels under the trademark and copyright MOTHI since 1971 openly, honestly and continuously. By virtue of the long, extensive and continuous usage of the trademark MOTHI, the said mark has become associated with the plaintiff exclusively. The products of the plaintiff have been available in the market for the last 40 years. While so, now, the plaintiff came to know that the defendant has been manufacturing and selling towels under the trademark MOHIT. The trademarks MOTHI and MOHIT are almost identical and the letters are merely jumbled and is clearly only with an intention to sail as close as possible with that of the plaintiff's. The plaintiff became aware of the defendant's usage of imitative MOHIT towels, which is deceptively similar to the plaintiff's MOTHI
