Smt. Harbans Kaur v. Gurmarg Appliances Pvt. Ltd & Others

order.

¶40Accordingly, the Petition is dismissed.

PRATHIBA M. SINGH

JUDGE

JANUARY 15, 2024 mr/ks

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of decision:-15th January, 2024. + CS(COMM) 447/2018, CC 987/2007 & CRL.M.A. 14610/2007 SMT. HARBANS KAUR ..... Plaintiff Through: None. versus GURMARG APPLIANCES PVT. LTD & OTHERS..... Defendants Through: Mr. Preet Pal Singh, Adv. (M. 9958555055) (1) WITH C.O. (COMM.IPD-TM) 32/2021 GURMARG APPLIANCES PVT LTD ..... Petitioner Through: Mr. Preet Pal Singh, Adv. (M. 9958555055) versus ASCENT ELECTRONICS ..... Respondent Through: None. (3) AND C.O. (COMM.IPD-TM) 346/2022 SMT HARBANS KAUR, W/O SHRI LIVELEEN SINGH ..... Petitioner Through: None. versus M/S GURMARG APPLICANCES PVT LTD ..... Respondent Through: Mr. Preet Pal Singh, Adv. (M. 9958555055) CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral) 1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode. 2. These are three proceedings in respect of the mark 'TANASHI'. The first proceeding is a suit filed by the Plaintiff against the Defendant and the other two are cancellation petitions filed by both parties against each other seeking cancellation of the other's marks. CS(COMM) 447/2018 3. The present is a suit filed by the Plaintiff- Smt. Harbans Kaur seeking protection of the mark 'TANASHI' bearing registration no. 1290305 in class 9 against the Defendants- Gurmarg Appliances Pvt. Ltd. 4. During the pendency of the suit Mrs. Harbans Kaur the proprietor passed away on 25th November, 2012, and the suit was continued by her son Mr. Sarabjit Singh Chatwal who has acquired the rights in the mark. The amended memo of parties is on record and the said impleadment of legal heirs was allowed on 11th February, 2015. 5. The case of the Plaintiff is that the trademark 'TANASHI' was adopted by the Plaintiff in the year 1993 in respect of electronic products. The said mark was also registered by the Plaintiff bearing no. 1290305 in class 9 in respect of products like D.C. Micro Motor, VCD, DVD, Television, Telephone, Cordless Telephone, Speakers, Amplifiers, Home Theatre Systems, Music Systems, Deck. 6. The case of the Plaintiff is that it has used the mark 'TANASHI' since 1993 uninterruptedly and was able to achieve sales of more than Rs.1.5 crores in the year 2007. The Plaintiff's predecessor had also applied for the registration of the said mark bearing no.963980 under class 9, however the same is still pending. As per the Plaintiff, it appointed the Defendant No. 2- Gurmarg International in the year 2004 as a distributor for the purpose of marketing and selling its products in the Northern India i.e., Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir. The Defendant Nos. 3 and 4 were the proprietor/ partners of Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 as the same was being run as a common business. The Plaintiff after giving the distributorship had again applied for another trademark bearing no. 1290305. The second application proceeded to registration. 7. The Plaintiff, in the meantime, obtained assignment of the mark from Reliance Plastic Industries vide assignment deed dated 29th January, 2003, which was the proprietorship firm of the Plaintiff and had used the mark from 1993-2003. Thus, she became the proprietor of the mark in her individual capacity itself later. 8. The Plaintiff is stated to have then received complaints about the Defendants use of the mark 'TANASHI' in an unauthorised manner and caution notices were published in the year 2007 in the newspapers. The said caution notices reads as below: 9. However, on further investigations it was revealed that the Defendants had started retailing the products of the Plaintiff and had even started threatening criminal actions against other retailers of the Plaintiff. This led to a dispute between the Plaintiff and the Defendants on the ground that the Defendants are selling spurious and fake products under the mark 'TANASHI'. The present suit then came to be filed before this Court. 10. In the meantime, the Defendants also obtained registration of the mark 'TANASHI' bearing no. 1274751