The well-known home appliance company Voltas Limited filed a trademark infringement suit against one Ashok Kumar for infringing its registered trademark “VOLTAS” through a website which bears the domain name “www.myvoltascare.com”.
The plaintiff argued that the trademark had been registered by Voltas in 1954 and has been consistently using it since that time. It has grown as the business of the company has grown and has coined the “distinctiveness of an invented word”, as observed in the judgement made in the Delhi High Court.
“Voltas” has also become synonymous with the company’s corporate name and trading style; it has also become a well-known mark owing to the usage over a wide geographical area with extensive publicity.
The court found that the plaintiff had a prima facie case of unauthorized use of a trademark by a third party resulting in a violation of statutory and common law rights.
The website run and made by the defendant had exactly copied the look, feel, color scheme and photographs off the plaintiff’s website in attempt to fraudulently project itself as the plaintiff or project an apparent relation to the plaintiff company. The court found this to be causing “irreparable loss and injury to the plaintiff”.
The judgment was given, and an ex parte permanent injunction was ordered, the defendant party was not even served notices as a delay in proceedings would cause further loss and injury to the plaintiff. The defendant was restrained from using the “VOLTAS” trademark, logo, or any other marks that were deceptively similar to the same.
The domain name www.myvoltascare.com was to be suspended. Linked bank accounts were to be frozen, and UPI ID was directed to be suspended. The plaintiff also requested that the mobile numbers appearing on the website also be blocked.
[Voltas Limited v. Ashok Kumar and Ors., Hight Court New Delhi, Order dated 20.06.2022]
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