LAWS(DLH)-2011-12-191

ICICI BANK LTD Vs. CHUANDONG XU

Decided On December 22, 2011
ICICI BANK LTD Appellant
V/S
CHUANDONG XU Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Plaintiff has filed present suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of trademark, passing off, unfair competition, delivery up, rendition of accounts of profits, damages, etc. against the defendants, seeking to restrain defendants, their agents, representatives and all those acting on its behalf from using or operating in any manner the website 'icicigroup.com' / domain name , or any deceptive variant(s) thereof, amounting to infringement of plaintiff's trademark "ICICI".

(2.) Despite service, none appeared on behalf of the defendants. Accordingly, by order dated 19.01.2010 defendants were proceeded ex parte. Liberty was granted to the plaintiff to file ex parte evidence and the matter was placed before Joint Registrar for marking exhibits on documents.

(3.) Necessary facts to be noticed for disposal of this suit are that the Plaintiff adopted its trademark/service mark "ICICI" in the year 1955. The Plaintiff's trademark "ICICI" is an abbreviation of arbitrary words consisting of "Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India" and over the years has acquired tremendous reputation and goodwill. The Plaintiff's trademark registrations date back to the year 1998 and have been exhibited as Ex PW1/2. The Plaintiffs' domain name was registered on 16 th July, 1996. The Plaintiff has filed Registration certificates for their Trademark "ICICI" which stands registered in various jurisdictions such as, Hongkong, Japan, Korea, China etc.