BOMBAY HC GRANTS RS. 150 CRORES IN FAVOUR OF PLAINTIFF - NATURALS ICE CREAM OVER TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT

The Bombay HC awarded Rs 150 Crore in favour of Plaintiff- Naturals Ice cream over trademark Infringement. The Court also restrained Defendant from using the same trademark.

The Court hearing an interim application filed by Raghunandan Kamath, founder of Siddhant Icecreams LLP and Kamaths Our times Icecreams Pvt Ltd promoted. The Plaintiffs are in the business of manufacturing, selling and distributing ice cream, branded under the NATURAL family of marks. Plaintiff No. 3 adopted the mark NATURAL in 1984 and then began vending ice cream products through his then proprietary concern, M/s. Natural Ice Cream. The Plaintiffs claim the mark has a large reputation and is uniquely connected with them.

Recently, Plaintiff came across an ice parlour using the same trademark name and Sanman Patel as its proprietor. On further investigation, they found that the defendant was advertising their products of ice cream on social media using the same Trademark as their rivals' and the parlour signage had a legend - 'since 1992'.

The court deduced that the Plaintiffs seemed to have registered the mark, which could be traced back to 1984. The defendant had no right to use the mark "NATURAL". It is clear that the Plaintiffs have made out a sufficient prima facie case. Therefore interim relief was granted in favour of Kamathas and passed an injunction order and restrained defendants from using the mark NATURAL family.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal