UMEED Vs. UMEED HEALTH CARE SOCIETY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE plaintiff in the above said matter filed the suit for permanent and mandatory injunction restraining the defendant from passing off, dilution, etc. of the plaintiff 's mark ''UMEED ''.

(2.) BRIEF facts of the case are that the plaintiff is a registered Trust and is inter -alia engaged in charitable activities through ''UMEED '' - the NGO, which is stated to be one of the largest NGOs in the country providing various social services including Primary Healthcare, Rural Development, Rural BPO, Education and Social Empowerment since the year 1997. The plaintiff in 1997 got registered in the name of ''Khanna Foundation ''. Then in July, 1999, the name of the plaintiff was changed to ''Umeed Khanna Foundation '' and since February, 2006, the name was again changed to ''UMEED ''.

(3.) THE grievance of the plaintiff against the defendant is that the plaintiff came to know about the defendant from its website www.umeedhealthcare.com which claims that the defendant is a registered society under the Societies Registration Act who claims to have started the same in order to help the poor and underprivileged children who need medical treatment. In the website, the defendant has claimed that it is running an NGO in the name and style of ''UMEED HEALTH CARE SOCIETY ''. Thus, it is a case of confusion and deception and in fact, the defendant in the public at large is creating the confusion in order to show that it has some association, connection or source with the plaintiff which, in fact, is untrue. The defendant is also diluting the name ''UMEED '' by using the identical name which is highly distinctive and associated with the plaintiff exclusively. The plaintiff is the prior user of the said name.