HINDUSTAN PENCILS PVT. LTD. Vs. ANAND KUMAR BAJAJ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) M/s. Hindustan Pencils Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'the plaintiff') has filed the present suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of trademark, copyright, passing off, damages, delivery up, etc. against the defendants. The case set up by the plaintiff in the plaint is as under :

(2.) The plaintiff earlier a public limited company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act has been converted into a private limited company. Mr.Manoj Dabke is the authorized signatory of the plaintiff to institute the present suit. It is further averred that the plaintiff is well established and is carrying on an old and established business of manufacturing, marketing and selling pencils, erasers, sharpeners, foot rulers and other items of stationery of day-to-day use since 1957. It has conceived, invented, designed and adopted the mark 'NATARAJ' along with a device of 'NATARAJ' in respect of their pencils, sharpeners, erasers and other stationery products in the year 1961 and since then, they have been using the said trademark 'NATARAJ' along with device of 'NATARAJ' in a particular design label having its colour scheme, get up, layout, background in red and black and having its particular characteristics and style continuously, perpetually uninterruptedly and without any hindrance with respect to their stationery items throughout the territory of India. The present action is concerned with the plaintiff's well known and extensively used 'NATARAJ' erasers having its particular get up, style, layout, design and artistic features in the label, which is of red and black colour scheme amongst other features. These are misused by the defendants by copying / reproducing the said colour scheme, get up, layout and distinct features by merely replicating the features. It is further averred that the plaintiff is a registered proprietor of the trademark 'NATARAJ' and the device of 'NATARAJ' in India. The details of the trademarks applied have been reflected in para No.5 of the plaint. All these trademarks and their registration is valid and subsisting in the Registry of the Trade Marks. It is further stated that the plaintiff is also registered proprietor of the copyright under No.25427/79 in respect of carton and label containing the colour scheme, get up and layout of packaging of 'NATARAJ' with the device of 'NATARAJ' along with the various other registrations under the Copyright Act, 1857. The details of the sale figures of the products have been described in para No.7 of the plaint. In para No.8 of the plaint the description of the artistic features of the plaintiff's earlier carton and present carton used by it has been described in detail. All these features are artistic features and constitute the original artistic features within the meaning of Section 2(c) of the Indian Copyright Act. The plaintiff is the owner of the copyright therein and is using it continuously and regularly since the year 1989.

(3.) It is further pleaded that on account of superiority of the goods, long, extensive and continuous user and wide advertisement, the plaintiff's trademark 'NATARAJ' and device of 'NATARAJ' have become very popular with the stationery trade and members of the public associate the trademark 'NATARAJ' with the plaintiff and no one else. The trademark, device and get up of the carton in which the products are sold connote and denote the products manufactured by the plaintiff alone. Among the general purchasing public are the school going children who recognize the plaintiff's products by its trademark and get up of the carton in which these products are sold. The said get up, layout and artistic features of the plaintiff's label have become exclusive proprietary interest and have been associated with the plaintiff and no one else.