New Delhi, Dec 14 (PTI) A Delhi court has directed a manto pay Rs one lakh as damages to US-based Nike for infringingits trademark by selling products under the name of thepopular global sports goods brand.
Additional District Judge Anil Antil directed north-westDelhi resident Ashok Kumar to pay the damages to the brand forusing a "deceptively similar" trademark and causing confusionin the minds of the public.
"Customer base of the products of both the parties arethe same. The representation of the marks by the defendant(Singh) tends to cause confusion in the minds of the generalpublic as well as to the customers.
"If the defendant is permitted to use the impugned markwhich are deceptively similar and confusingly to that of theplaintiff's company (Nike), it will not only cause wrongfulloss to the plaintiff company, but will also cause graveprejudice and harm to public, not to mention about loss to thegoodwill of the plaintiff," the judge said.
The court's order came on a suit filed by company NikeInnovative CV, based in Oregon, USA, alleging that thedefendant was found selling sports wear, bags and other goodsunder its trademark.
The court had earlier granted ex-parte injunction to thecompany after the defendant failed to appear before it.
Nike is engaged in the business of manufacturing,distributing and selling a large variety of goods includingfootwear, athletic suit, bags, sports goods, watches, eyewear,consumer electronic products and other related products, thesuit said.
It alleged that Singh had copied and adopted thecompany's artistic features including the trademark, label,trade name and domain name and infringed its copyrights.
The court, while deciding the suit in the company'sfavour, said "Nothing has come on record to disbelieve thecase of the plaintiff or doubt the authenticity and veracityof the document filed on record. The defendant did not comeforward to disprove the case of plaintiff his stand.""I am of the view plaintiff is entitled to punitivedamages to the tune of Rs one lakh in his favour and againstthe defendant," the judge said. PTI AGARC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.