BACKGROUND –
Amul, one of the largest dairy products producing units in India receives a temporary relief in the form of a temporary injunction in a cross-border trademark infringement suit, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. & Anr. v. Terre Primitive and Ors, from the Delhi High Court against an Italian Company, Terre Primitive, over the usage of the mark ‘Amuleti’ to market, the latter’s dairy products.
KEY ASPECTS –
The Hon’ble High Court highlighted several key considerations:
Temporary injunction relief in infringement: The Court should take this into account if there is any prima facie case of infringement case and if the relief is not granted then there would be irreparable loss on the account of the plaintiff. If the plaintiff suffers any irreparable loss in the absence of that relief, the court may pass a temporary injunction for the same.
Prima Facie Case: If the plaintiff in a trademark infringement case is able to demonstrate that they are the original users of the trademark or they have developed a goodwill and reputation over time and there is a prima facie case regarding the infringement of that trademark, the court may take these into account while determining the injunction or any other relief.
Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. & Anr. v. Terre Primitive and Ors, is a cross-border trademark infringement dispute between the Indian origin dairy product company “Amul” and an Itali based company “Terre Primitive” over the trademark’s usage.
In the present case, the plaintiffs successfully demonstrated the prime facie case of trademark infringement which the defendant also agreed, that the defendant by simply appending the word “eti” to the mark, Terre Primitive had replicated the script, style, and manner in which “Amul” was represented.
After taking cognizance of both the plaintiff and defendant, the Hon’ble court, through Justice Mini Pushkarna, grants an ex-parte temporary injunction in the favour of the plaintiff, restraining the Italian company for the usage of the mark “Amuleti” or any other mark that appears in any way in a similar manner in the market, e-commerce websites or any social media containing a similar, vaguely identical or confusingly resemblances to “Amul’s” marks or logos.
The Hon’ble Court also ordered the Italian Company to remove the products listed on the company’s website or brochure that contain the mark “Amuleti”. In addition to that, an order was issued to remove the social media links containing “Amuleti” products over the internet.
The Hon’ble Court further ordered the Italian Company, to turn over all of its products, advertising materials etc that includes “Amuleti” mark to Amul, in order to destroy them.
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WRITTEN BY YASH BHARDWAJ
