LOREAL Vs. BRANDWORLD & ANR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Plaintiff has filed the present suit seeking an injunction against use of the trademark 'L'OREAL' by the Defendants and sale of ''L'OREAL' products on the Defendant's website www ShopClues.com.

(2.) The Plaintiff is engaged in the business of manufacture, distribution, and sale of a wide range of hair care, skin care, eye care, cosmetics and beauty products including but not limited to perfumery preparation, cosmetics, preparations for colouring and bleaching the hair, hair dyes and tints, non-medicated preparations for the care and beauty of the skin and non-medicated preparations for eye care cosmetics and other allied/related products.

(3.) The mark 'L'OREAL' is stated to have been coined in the year 1910- 1915. The said mark is also registered in India in class 3. The Plaintiff claims enormous goodwill and reputation internationally. It is also claimed that 'L'OREAL' products are available in India and are also extensively advertised in India. The Plaintiff came to know that Defendant No.1 is the seller/merchant on the Defendant No.2 website www shopclues.com. Defendant No.2 M/s. Clues Network Pvt. Ltd. is the owner of the website www shopclues.com, which is interactive in nature and is an online market place. The Plaintiff found that various 'L'OREAL' products were available on the Defendant No.2's website, without license from the Plaintiff. Thus, to verify the authenticity of the goods being sold, the Plaintiff affected a test purchase of one of its products from the website www shopclues.com.