The Florence-based fashion house Gucci moved to a Delhi District Court seeking a permanent injunction against a Delhi based company (Intiyaz Sheikh of Shipra Overseas) to use its iconic logo on its products. 

The Global Luxury brand obtained an ex-prate order directing the local manufacturer to stop using the brand’s iconic logo. The District Court not only passed an interim injunction but also ordered the defendant to pay up ₹2 lakh in damages and ₹1.66 lakh as costs.

ARGUMENT

Gucci sought a permanent injunction against the defendant from manufacturing, supplying, selling or dealing in any goods such as tags, accessories, socks, etc., under the label of GUCCI. In April 2019, during a survey, Gucci found that the defendant was offering a large number of counterfeit GUCCI products at low quality and standard under the “green and red stripes” logo. GUCCI representatives procured pictures of the products of the defendant and came to know that they copied the well-known strip's logo. Thereafter, GUCCI moved to the Delhi Court and argued that GUCCI has extensively advertised its products worldwide, including India. It has had massive popularity since 1921. 

HELD

On the Non-appearance of the defendant, the judge prompted to say, " The Defendant intentionally chose not to be present proceeding despite having due knowledge of the present suit. I do not find any reason not to believe the plaintiff's claim as the logo "GUCCI" registered its mark in India a long time ago. I also have no reason to disbelieve that GUCCI has acquired goodwill, distinctiveness and unique identity with respect to the products manufactured by it."

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Author: Papiha Ghoshal