$~19 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of Decision: 12^th December, 2023 + CS(COMM) 252/2023, I.As. 16768/2023, 21206/2023 &

24831/2023 NEW BALANCE ATHLETICS INC. ..... Plaintiff Through: Mr. Urfee Roomi, Ms. Janaki Arun, Mr. Anubhav Chhabra, Ms. Anuja Chaudhury, Mr. Alvin Antony, Mr. Ritesh Kumar, Mr. Jaskaran Singh, Mr. Ayush Dixit, Ms. Radhika Arora, Advs. (M. 9818098835)

versus JITENDER KUMAR, TRADING AS J. K. ENTERPRISES & ORS. ..... Defendants Through: Mr. Pardeep Dhingra, Mr. Archit Relan and Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Advs. (M. 9899617975)

CORAM:

JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH

JUDGMENT

PRATHIBA M. SINGH, J.

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present suit has been filed by the Plaintiff-New Balance Athletics, Inc. a US based Company seeking protection of its ‘NB’ shaded logo which is used in respect of footwear shoes and other related products.

The various marks of the Plaintiff are set out below:-

CS(COMM)252/2023 Page1of17 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed

3. The mark ‘N’ is stated to have been used on footwear since 1970’s when the Plaintiff launched its athletic shoes. Over the years, the Plaintiff is stated to have used the letter ‘N’ along with the combination NB and has manufactured and sold a large number of products including footwear Apparel etc.

4. The Plaintiff is also offering retail services. It has businesses in several countries in the world including United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, and South Africa as also in India. The marks ‘N’ and ‘NB’ are sold in all these countries. The shoes are manufactured by the Plaintiff in 25 countries across the world with a strict quality control mechanism. The sales of the Plaintiff are stated to be approximately three billion dollars.

5. The Plaintiff’s mark ‘NB’ is promoted across the world in several advertisements, especially, for sporting footwear and it is stated that more CS(COMM)252/2023 Page2of17 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed than 215 million dollars are invested in advertising. The Plaintiff also claims to be having a substantial social media presence including on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram etc.

6. The Plaintiff has also sponsored a large number of sporting events as stated in paragraph 23. It is stated that the Plaintiff has sponsored events such as the New York City Marathon organised by New York Road Runners, Major League Baseball teams, such as the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox, the Olympic teams of Ireland and Chile at the 2016 Rio Olympics and various numerous national and club football teams as well as football teams.

7. The sports persons, who endorsed the Plaintiff’s products includes Shikhar Dhawan, Taniya Bhatia, Brett Lee, Steve Smith and other well- known cricketers as also other tennis players, Olympians etc. The Plaintiff’s footwear are also claimed to be used by large number of global political leaders and other celebrities such as Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, Bill Clinton, Barak Obama, Vladmir Putin, and entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, global celebrities such as Rihanna, Seth Rogen, Pharrell, Robert Downey Jr., Ed Helms, etc. The endorsers also include Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Holland, Steve Carel I, Jim Carrey, Kim Kardashian, and Indian celebrities such as Ranbir Kapoor, Vidyut Jammwal, Sonakshi Sinha etc.

8. The Plaintiff also claims to have won a number of awards. In India, the Plaintiff’s product are stated to have been purchased by Indian consumers since 1986 and the products are also available on various E-

commerce platforms such as Amazon, Myntra, Ajio and Flipkart etc.

9. The Plaintiff has incorporated its subsidiary Companies - New Balance IT Services India Private Limited in 2007 and New Balance India CS(COMM)252/2023 Page3of17 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Private Limited in 2022 and is actively doing business in India. The Plaintiff has added the large print media and electronic media business in India and has sp