HAWKINS COOKERS LIMITED Vs. MURUGAN ENTERPRISES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff is an existing Public Limited Company within the meaning of Companies Act, 1956 and has instituted the present suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of trademark, passing off, delivery up and rendition of accounts etc. against the sole defendant.

(2.) The plaintiff claims to be a reputed and established company inter alia engaged in the manufacture of pressure cookers and parts thereof under the trademark HAWKINS for the last 30 years. The name of the plaintiff company was changed from M/s Pressure Cookers and Appliances Limited to the present name of M/s Hawkins Cookers Limited in the year 1986. The plaintiff is the registered proprietor of the trademark HAWKINS from 06.05.1957 in Class 21 under the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958 in respect of pressure cookers and parts thereof. The trademark registration no. 179714 is for HAWKINS UNIVERSAL but the mark registered is HAWKINS and the word UNIVERSAL is subject to disclaimer. The registrations are stated to be valid and subsisting. The plaintiff claims that the trademark HAWKINS forms a predominant feature of the corporate name and trading style of the plaintiff and the plaintiff is also referred in the abbreviated form of 'Hawkins'.

(3.) The trademark HAWKINS is inter alia used for parts of the pressure cookers known as gaskets. The gaskets of the pressure cookers are sold as independent items and are purchased as such by the housewives and servants whenever the old pieces are worn out or need replacement. The gaskets are one of the most crucial and intergral part of a pressure cooker which prevents the steam from leaking out of the cooker. It is the steam pressure inside the cooker which cooks the food quickly. Thus, gaskets of poor quality or defective gaskets can lead to bursting of cooker and consequential burn injuries. It is in view thereof that the plaintiff has a quality control department to ensure that its pressure cookers and various parts thereof are of the required quality and standard. The plaintiff claims that since these gaskets are sold all over the country including rural as well as urban areas, the uneducated intending purchasers of below average intelligence, being illiterate and having imperfect recollection, identify such gaskets by their features and get-up of their packing as well as the trademark HAWKINS. It is in order to promote the pressure cookers and parts thereof manufactured by the plaintiff that the plaintiff has spent a sum of Rs. 111 crore between October, 1986 and March, 2005 towards advertisements and promotions.