IMPORTANT POINT
A plaintiff in a trademark infringement suit may bypass pre-institution mediation if the suit contemplates urgent interim relief, as mandated by Section 12A of The Commercial Courts Act, 2015.

ORDER :

Moushumi Bhattacharya, J.

The Civil Revision Petition (CRP) arises out of an order dated 10.04.2024 passed by the Special Court for Trial and Disposal of Commercial Disputes, Ranga Reddy District, at L.B. Nagar.

2. The Commercial Court rejected the objection taken by the revisionist with regard to the Suit filed by the respondent No.1 not being maintainable. The maintainability was mounted on the Suit circumventing the statutory requirement under section 12A of The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (2015 Act).

3. The Revisionist – M/s.Kohinoor Seed Fields India Pvt. Ltd. (Kohinoor) is the defendant No.1 and the respondent No.2 – M/s.Crystal Crop Protection Pvt. Ltd. (Crystal) is the defendant No.2 in the Suit filed by the respondent No.1 – M/s.Veda Seed Sciences Pvt. Ltd. (Veda). The defendant No.2 (Crystal) took the objection with regard to the maintainability of the Suit before the Trial Court. The present CRP is however filed by the defendant No.1/Kohinoor against the order dated 10.04.2024.

The Dispute

4. The respondent No.1/plaintiff/Veda filed a Suit for permanent injunction for restraining the defendants (petitioner and the respondent No.2) from infringing the Trademark, Trade Dress and Copyright of the plaintiff’s trademarks/packaging – “Sadanand”, “Tadaka” and “Basant” and from passing off the defendants’ products as those of the plaintiff’s. The plaintiff claimed damages and rendition of accounts in the said Suit (COS.No.06 of 2024). The plaintiff/Veda also filed an application for temporary injunction restraining the defendants from using the 3 Trademarks or any Marks identical to the plaintiff’s trademarks “Sadanand”, “Tadaka” and “Basant”.

5. The respondent No.2/defendant No.2/Crystal objected to the maintainability of the plaintiff’s Suit in the course of the hearing which led to the order under revision. The grounds of objection taken by Crystal are repeated by the Revisionist/Kohinoor before this Court.

6. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the revision petitioner/ defendant No.1 submits that the Trial Court erred in rejecting the objection with regard to the maintainability of the Suit. Counsel relies on section 12A of The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 to urge that a Suit which does not contemplate any urgent interim relief cannot be instituted unless the plaintiff exhausts the remedy of pre-institution mediation. Counsel submits that the plaintiff’s Suit does not disclose any such urgency and hence the Trial Court could not have permitted the Suit to proceed without complying with the mandatory statutory requirement.

7. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the plaintiff/respondent No.1/Veda places an outline of the relevant facts which led to the filing of the Suit for infringement of Trademarks. Counsel submits that the facts stated in the plaint as well as the application for interim injunction would show that there was great urgency in obtaining the relief prayed for since the revisionist had sold one of the Marks (“Sadanand”) to Crystal on 28.09.2023 and Crystal had also launched an advance booking scheme for the Kharif (harvesting) season on 27.12.2023 using the Mark “Sadanand”. Counsel submits that respondent No.1/Plaintiff/Veda owns the said Mark and was hence constrained to file a Suit along with an Interlocutory Application in December 2023.

8. Counsel also submits that the CRP is not maintainable under Article 227 of the Constitution of India since there is no abuse of the fundamental principles of law.

9. We have heard learned counsel arguing against and in support of the order under revision, respectively. We propose to decide the controversy under the following heads.

10. Our conclusions are reflected in the captioned headings.

Mandatory requirement of Pre-Institution Mediation under Section 12A of The Commercial Courts Act, 2015

11. The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 was published in the Gazette of India on 01.01.2016 with effect from 23.10.2015. The Act primarily provided for a hierarchy of Commercial Courts