The Delhi High Court has recently held that registrations of device marks do not automatically grant the appellant exclusive right in respect of a word.
A division bench of Justices Vibhu Bakhru and Amit Mahajan was hearing an appeal preferred by Vasundhra Jewellers Pvt. Ltd seeking an order restraining the respondents from using the trademark “VASUNDHRA FASHION”.
“it is also necessary to bear in mind that examining the dominant part of the trademark for comparing it with the conflicting mark is solely for the purpose of determining whether competing marks are deceptively similar when viewed as a whole. It is, thus, not permissible to hold that two competing marks are deceptively similar by examining a portion of one mark and comparing it with the portion of another mark, if the composite marks viewed as a whole are dissimilar.”-the court held
Vasundhra Jewellers Pvt. Ltd had claimed that has the exclusive right to use the VASUNDHRA Trademarks, including the name “Vasundhra”, having spent a considerable amount of money and effort to establish its brand identity through the promotion and advertising of the said marks.
The Respondent contended that the class of goods, which are dealt by it. Further also contending, its goods are supplied to different class of purchasers and 80% of its business is derived from Gujrat and the balance 20% is through online sales.
The single judge bench of Delhi High Court had held that Vasundhra Jewellers Pvt. Ltd did not hold any registration for the word mark “VASUNDHRA” and hence was not entitled to protection.
The respondent Kirat Vinodbhai Jadvani was represented by Advocate Raghvendra M Bajaj, who was assisted by Advocates Anshuman Upadhyay, Naseem and Prashant.