Delhi High Court Restrains Manufacturer from Selling Counterfeit Products, Grants Rs. 25 lakhs Damages to ‘Daawat’ Basmati Rice
The Delhi High Court has granted the damages of Rs. 25 lakhs Damages to ‘Daawat’ Basmati Rice and restrained the manufacturer from selling counterfeit products.
Facts
The present suit for permanent injunction and damages against infringement of marks, passing off, unfair competition has been filed by the Plaintiff, LT Foods Limited against the Defendant, M/s.Saraswati Trading Company.
The plaintiff is engaged in the business of processing, marketing and exporting food products including rice. It is amongst the top 50 food processing companies in North India as per the Dun and Bradstreet survey.
According to the Plaintiff, the marks ‘DAWAT’ or ‘DAAWAT’ are well-known marks having achieved considerable sales turnover of more than Rs. 700 crores in 2020-2021. The sales promotion is claimed to be to the tune of Rs.33 crores in the year 2020- 21 in respect of the marks.
The defendant is selling, storing and distributing counterfeit ‘DAAWAT’ branded products. The knowledge of the Defendant’s activities was acquired by the Plaintiff in August, 2021 when it procured Defendant’s product. The product upon examination revealed that, though the product is claimed to be Basmati Rice, it is actually Jawaphool Rice which does not match the standards of Basmati Rice which is high quality rice.
The same was being rebranded as Basmati Rice and sold in ‘DAAWAT CHEF’S SECRETS BASMATI RICE’ branded product packaging. The product packaging of the Defendant is identical to that of the Plaintiff.
Court’s Observation
A single bench of Justice Prathibha M. Singh has found that the defendant is clearly indulging in blatant violation of the Plaintiff’s statutory and common law rights in the marks ‘DAWAT’ / ‘DAAWAT’. Moreover, considering that the product is rice for human consumption, the misrepresentation by the Defendant that the same is Basmati Rice is also impermissible.
The court has directed the manufacturer to pay damages to the tune of Rs.20,00,000 and costs of Rs.5,00,000 to the plaintiff.
CASE TITLE: LT Foods Limited v/s Saraswati Trading Company
Citation: CS (COMM) 413/2021
Date of decision: 11th November, 2022
