VST INDUSTRIES LIMITED Vs. RUDRA VENTURES PRIVATE LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

(2.) The Plaintiff had filed the present suit seeking permanent injunction restraining infringement of registered trademarks, copyright in packaging and trade-dress, passing off, dilution, damages, rendition of accounts, delivery up and other reliefs. The present suit relates to the trademark 'TOTAL' used by the Plaintiff for cigarettes.

(3.) The Plaintiff is stated to be a leading company in the tobacco industry for the last 90 years and it has been manufacturing and selling cigarettes under several trademarks such as 'TOTAL', 'CHARMS', 'CHARMINAR', 'EDITIONS', 'SPECIAL' and 'MOMENTS'. As per the plaint, the said mark was adopted in 2015 and since then, the mark has achieved sales of more than Rs.2,000.00 crores. The Plaintiff's case is that 'TOTAL' is the largest capsule cigarette brand and is among the top five cigarette brands in the country. The Plaintiff's marks relating to 'TOTAL' are also registered in Class 34 since 9/10/2015, including the packaging of the 'TOTAL' branded cigarettes and its colour. The Plaintiff also has copyrights for various packagings of 'TOTAL' branded cigarettes.