Delhi HC’s Ex Parte Order in Coca-Cola Company & Anr vs Glacier Water Industries Ltd.

Dec 2022

This is a case of a Delhi High court ex parte proceeding concerning trademark dilution. The plaintiff filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction, damages and to restrain them from passing off their products as that of the plaintiff. The plaintiff also pleaded the court to restrain the defendants from using the mark ‘KINLEY’ and to transfer all the web domains related to the same.

In the proceedings, the Delhi High Court, vide order dated 29thApril 2018, granted an interim injunction in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants. The court proceeded against the defendants’ ex-parte and decreed against the defendants.

In the Ex-parte proceeding, the evidence provided by the plaintiff was confirmed by the courtand the evidence adduced by the petitioner was accepted to be true and valid. The decree by the Delhi High Court is on the line of the Supreme Court in Ramesh Chand Ardawatiya Vs.

Anil Panjwani, (AIR 2003 SC 2508), which upholds that a prima facie proof of the relevant facts constituting the cause of action would suffice and the court would grant the plaintiff such relief as to which he may, in law be found entitled. It goes on further to explain that in a case which has proceeded ex parte, the court is not bound to frame issues under Order 14 and deliver the judgment on every issue as required by Order 20 Rule 5.

However, the trial court should scrutinize the available pleadings and documents, consider the evidence adduced, and would do well to frame the “points for determination” and proceed to construct the ex parte judgment dealing with the points at issue one by one.

The Plaintiff No. 1, in this case, is the registered proprietor of the arbitrary mark KINLEY in class 32. KINLEY has been primarily used by the plaintiff in connection with drinking water. The plaintiff came to the notice of using the mark by the defendant who also falsely claimed that they had used the mark for their water system having collaborated with plaintiff No. 1’s Indian Subsidiary, the Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd.

The truth, however, remains that no such collaboration existed. When the further investigation was carried out by the plaintiff it was revealed that the trademark was used openly and prominently for advertising and promotional means. In the investigation, it was also revealed that the defendant No. 1 had applied for the registration of the mark KINLEY with application number 2329491 in class 11.

The section 29(4) of the Indian Trade Marks Act, 1999 clearly defines the concept of Trademark Dilution. A trademark of a company is diluted when its uniqueness is lost owing to its unauthorized use by a different player.

Trending Blogs
Voluntary Cancellation of Trademark Registration
Trademark registration is a timely affair for 10 years, and it is registered as per the Trademark Act, 1999. There are certain rules and laws pertaining to trademarking a symbol for a brand. A proprietor can get a symbol, phrase of the word, or equivalent trademarked to be used for the brand. But there are […]
Read More
Drug Patents and Generic Pharmaceutical Drugs
When a drug is manufactured and released to the market in the initial period, it is sold under a certain brand names and can only be availed from a pharmacy after being prescribed by the doctor. The patent of the drug is owned by a few brands who are the only eligible brands to manufacture […]
Read More
Why Are Drug Patents Important Everything You Need to Know?
Before you ask for the importance of patent in the Pharmaceutical world, let us first learn about Patents. After a song is recorder, the song is approached by various music production companies who would like to rent the copyright of the song for marketing purpose and earn profit from it. And patent is almost similar, […]
Read More
Can Religious Symbols Be Registered As Trademarks?
Are you planning to register religious symbols as trademarks? Well, you should research thoroughly to understand the use of religious symbols as trademarks. You have to consider the sentiments of people before you plan to use regions symbol for your business. India being a secular country encourages different citizen follows different religions, practicing it and […]
Read More
India dropped to 40th position in International Intellectual Property Index
India has fallen to 40th position in the International Intellectual Property Index. This index helps know about the IP climate in the 53 global economies of the present year. This is as per the report US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center. As per last year’s report, India has been ranked in the 36th […]
Read More
Patents – An Important Tool for Pharmaceutical Industry
For suitable protection of medical inventions, patents are the perfect option. This would also safeguard medical discoveries that are research-based and it is done by most of the pharmaceutical companies. In return for the protection offered by the patent, it can disclose the research used in coming up with the medical innovation in the pharmaceutical […]
Read More
Delhi HC’s Ex Parte Order in Coca-Cola Company & Anr vs Glacier Water Industries Ltd.
This is a case of a Delhi High court ex parte proceeding concerning trademark dilution. The plaintiff filed a suit seeking a permanent injunction, damages and to restrain them from passing off their products as that of the plaintiff. The plaintiff also pleaded the court to restrain the defendants from using the mark ‘KINLEY’ and […]
Read More
Intellectual Property and its Role in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Intellectual property rights are considered to be an important asset of any corporate unit. It is an indication of the creation of mind and the work that makes one entity different from the other. With better IP or intellectual rights, it would be easy to promote the possible innovations and this would be useful in […]
Read More
Trademarking surnames
Having difficult surnames may be challenging to explain others and also when you want to register the name as trademark. As per the trademark and merchandise act of 1958, it is stated that a mark can be refused if one choose a personal name or surname. Though, there is no such clear specification in the […]
Read More
The Common Law Protection Of Trade Secrets And The Need For A Statue
Introduction: A trade secret is anything you use in your business that gives you an advantage over your competitors. A trade secret can be a recipe, process, formula, strategy, technique or device that your competitors do not know, do not have, and cannot use. With development in technology, as well as the ease of sharing, […]
Read More
X
Download Firm Profile