MATTEL Vs. JAYANT AGARWALLA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall dispose off IA No. 2352/2008 preferred by the plaintiffs under Order XXXIX Rule 1and2 of the Code of Civil Proure, 1908, seeking an ad interim injunction restraining the defendants from infringing the trademark and copyright of the plaintiffs in the board game called SCRABBLE.

(2.) THE first plaintiff is a company incorporated in Delaware, United states. The second and third plaintiffs, incorporated in the United Kingdom and india respectively, are wholly owned subsidiaries of the first plaintiff. They aver to being leading manufacturers of toys, games and consumer products. Their best selling brands include "barbie", "hot Wheels", "matchbox", "little People" and a wide assortment of entertainment inspired toy lines.

(3.) ONE of the well-known products of the plaintiffs is the board game marketed and popularized by the name "scrabble" (hereafter referred to as "the game" ). This word-based game challenges the players to form words on a grid; points are scored by forming such words. It is averred that over 100 million sets of the game have been sold in approximately 29 different languages. They also manufacture and market board games with SCRABBLE formative marks, like the "junior Scrabble", the "rainbow Scrabble" etc. The game was invented in 1932 by one Mr. Alfred Mosher Butts and has been redesigned since then. The trademark scrabble has been used since the year 1948. The plaintiffs aver being owners of the trademark SCRABBLE in all countries except the United State and Canada, where Hasbro Inc. owns it. The plaintiffs own two registrations in relation to the trademark SCRABBLE in India; No. 850786 in Class 9 and No. 342431 in Class 28, from the year 1999 and 1978 respectively. It is averred that two related applications are pending registration. These marks have also been registered in number of other countries.