DHARAM PAL SATYA PAL Vs. JANTA SALES CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff, a partnership firm having its registered office at Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi, claims to be engaged in the manufacture and sale, inter alia, of Chewing Tobacco (Zafrani Zarda) and established in this trade since the year 1979. They state to have adopted the trade mark "RAJNI", in respect of Zafrani Zarda in the year 1980, and having used the same extensively since then, in the course of trade, and as such to have acquired enviable reptation with the purchasing public so much so that the said trade mark has come to be exclusively identified as the goods of the plaintiff's manufacture.

(2.) The assertion further is that the plaintiff has established large and extensive sales of their product, under the aforesaid trade mark, during the past years, having spent huge amounts on publicity, as per figures detailed in the plaint. It is contended that by virtue of prior adoption and extensive user, the plaintiff has acquired exclusive rights to this trade mark "RAJNI" and that the adoption and/or user of an identical and/or deceptively similar mark by anybody else in relation to Zafrani Zarda or any other cognate or allied goods is bound to cause confusion and deception amounting to passing off. They further claim that the goods carrying the trade mark "RAJNI" are packed in containers with a distinctive design and unique get up, lay out, colour combination and arrangement and that the work relating to the said containers amounts to original artistic work in which the plaintiff holds valid copyright, under registration Nos. A-29946/80, A-30078/80, A-29897/80 and A-29888/89 and thus protected against infringement of this copyright.

(3.) The present suit has been brought against the defendant M/s. Janta Sales Corporation, Industrial Area Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on the allegation of the plaintiff having found out that this defendant is engaged in the manufacture and sale of, inter alia, Paan Masala and has adopted an identical mark "RAJANI" in respect of the said goods. Feeling aggrieved by the adoption and use of this mark on behalf of the defendant, which is characterised as dishonest, mala fide, tainted and solely with a view to trade upon the reputation of the plaintiff and its trade mark of "RAJNI", and pass off their goods as that of the plaintiff, it is alleged that use of the mark "RAJANI" on the part of the defendant is bound to cause deception in the mind of unwary class of purchasers. The allegation further is that goods of the defendant were inferior to that of the plaintiff and the defendant has no justification for adoption of the mark in respect of Zafrani Zarda or any other cognate or allied goods, and use of this mark on the part of defendant violates the plaintiff's legal and vested rights, adding that the defendant has not only adopted an identical trade mark, but has also reproduced various features of plaintiff's artistic containers constituting infringement of the copyright. It is pleaded that the goods manufactured by the defendant, namely. Paan Masala and those by the plaintiff, namely. Chewing Tobacco are cognate and allied goods, both the goods being manufactured by the same manufacturers; sold by the same shopkeepers; and displayed side by side.