Delhi High Court<\/span>: In a case wherein a suit had been filed seeking relief of permanent injunction restraining the defendants from infringing the marks of the plaintiffs and passing off their goods as that of the plaintiffs, Single Judge Bench of Amit Bansal, J.* <\/span>granted permanent injunction to the mark ‘VOLVO' and opined that the defendants had been making unlawful gains at the expense of the plaintiffs and so it was not a case of innocent adoption. Thus, the Court awarded Rs. 10 lakhs towards damages and costs to the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n
Background<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs had their business in transportation and automotive sector, including the business of manufacturing spare parts, accessories, and ancillary parts for vehicles under the mark ‘VOLVO '. The plaintiffs were the registered proprietor of the mark ‘VOLVO' and ‘VOLVO' formative marks in Class 12 and various other Classes of the Trade Marks Act, 1999<\/a> (“Act”). The plaintiffs' ‘VOLVO' mark had acquired the status of ‘well-known trade mark' within the meaning of Section 2( 1)(zg) of the Act, which was recognized in Aktiebolaget Volvo of Sweden<\/i> v. Volvo Steels Ltd. of Gujarat (India),<\/i> 1997 SCC OnLine Bom 578<\/a>. In 2018, the plaintiffs became aware of the defendants’ activities when they came across the advertisements and sale of the bicycles by the defendants under the mark ‘VOLVO'. The investigation conducted by plaintiffs revealed that defendants were infringing the mark ‘VOLVO' of the plaintiffs. The Defendant 2, Road Master Autotech (P) Ltd. offered their products for sale on their website www.roadmasterindia.com<\/a> as well as on third party merchant platforms like www.indiamart.com<\/a>. Therefore, the plaintiffs submitted that the use of the registered and well-known mark of the plaintiffs by the defendants in respect of goods in identical classes amounted to infringement of the plaintiffs' mark ‘VOLVO' and passing off the goods of the defendants as that of the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n
Analysis, Law, and Decision<\/p>\n
Comparison of marks of the plaintiffs and the defendants<\/i>:<\/p>\n
[Aktiebolaget Volvo v. Gyan Singh, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 2432<\/a>, decided on 25-4-2023<\/span>]<\/p>\n
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Advocates who appeared in this case :<\/p>\n
For the Defendants: Kunal Khanna, Umesh Mishra and Vishal Patel, Advocates<\/p>\n
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