The history of our nation witnesses that khadi has made revolution in the era of renaissance in our country. ‘Khadi’ became an epitome of the nation at that time.
Once again ‘Khadi’ is in the news in the field of intellectual property laws. There was a legal battle between Khadi and Village Industries Commission and Raman Gupta and others before Delhi High Court(CS (Comm) 133 of 2022 & I.A. 3299 of 2022 dated 26-7-22).
The brief factual matrix is that ‘Khadi’ and Village Industries, being plaintiffs, have filed a suit for infringement of Trademark ‘Khadi’ along with other ancillary reliefs against Raman Gupta and others i.e. defendants. The plaintiff is the registered proprietor of the mark ‘Khadi’ and its variants in several classes, along with the ‘Charkha Logos’. The said trademarks are also registered in various countries like the U.K, China, Australia, USA, Bhutan, Mexico, New Zealand etc. The plaintiff has its own websites www.kviconline.gov.in, www.ekhadiindia.com which sells over 50,000 products ranging from food products, grocery products, oils to diyas, woollen products, cosmetics, etc. The plaintiff has also manufactured and sold various medical products, such as hand wash, hand sanitizers, etc. A mobile Application is launched by plaintiff under the name Khadi India. It is also the case of the plaintiff that the trademark Khadi along with ‘Charkha logo’ is licensed to several third parties. Products of Khadi are sold on e-commerce platforms. The trademark ‘Khadi’ has been protected in earlier legal proceedings.
The defendants are using the trading style ‘Khadi by Heritage’ and also the mark Khadi and charkha logos. The defendants are using the impugned trademarks for PPE kits, hand sanitizers, fireballs through their website.
Hon’ble Delhi High Court granted ex parte ad interim injunction in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendant as the use of the word Khadi by the defendant as a trading style or as a trademark is illegal and unlawful. The defendant is also restrained from using the domain name www.khadibyheritage.com and its variants.
Hon’ble Delhi High Court has perused the record of the case and thereafter came to the conclusion that plaintiff is the registered proprietor of the trademark Khadi and its variants since the year 2014 and has used them since 1956. Perusal of the record and considering the facts of the case of the plaintiff in para no. 13 of the judgement, Hon’ble Delhi HC is of the opinion that the use of the mark and name ‘Khadi by Heritage’ by the defendant would result in causing irreparable confusion to the consumers and such use also creates illusion in the minds of the people that the defendant must be associated with the plaintiff. And therefore Hon’ble Delhi HC has granted a decree of permanent injunction in terms of the prayer paragraphs of the plaint against the defendant.
Hon’ble Delhi HC has also passed an order for the award of damages and cost in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendant observing that the use of the trademark/logo/domain name by the defendant is deliberate/conscious and malafide in nature.
Author’s Opinion:
- Awarding damage in favour of the plaintiff is embodied in section 135 of The Trademarks Act, 1999. If such damage is asked in the form of relief.
- In the cases of intellectual property laws to prove damage may be very difficult during the Trial.
- Hon’ble Delhi HC has awarded damage of Rs. 10,00,000 and cost of Rs. 2,00,000 in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendant on the basis of deliberate, melafide and conscious use of the trademark by the defendant. It is a welcoming step taken by Hon’ble Delhi HC to protect the intellectual property rights in their real sense by way of awarding damages. As in the present case the plaintiff has been using the trademark Khadi and its variants since 1956 and the filing of trademark applications by the defendant deliberately establishes the dishonesty on the part of the defendant further in the examination reports of the trademark applications filed by the defendants the trademarks of the plaintiff have been cited as conflicting marks by the trademark registry. This fact also establishes that the defendant is well within the knowledge of the plaintiff’s registered trademarks and its variants. The defendant continued to use his trademark which establishes dishonesty on the part of the defendant.
- Hence, the order passed by the Hon’ble Delhi HC restraining the defendant from using the trademark Khadi and awarding the damages and cost is just an appropriate in the eyes of law.
- Such judgements passed by the courts become one of the best examples at national and international level to encourage more and more people not only to trust in Indian Judiciary but also to the development of their industries and business under the umbrella of intellectual property rights.
- In genuine cases, awarding damage and cost becomes inevitable for encouragement of protection of IPR so that justice in its real sense would be justified.
- It can be said that Khadi becomes an offbeat stuff to wear now-a-days but it had played a very important role during the time of our freedom and it also plays very important at present by way of getting it protected from Hon’ble Delhi High Court.
Author
Chirag Bhatt
Advocate.
