SAMSONITE CORPORATE Vs. VIJAY SALES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiffs claiming to be engaged in the sale of suitcases all over the globe have instituted the suit against the defendants stating that the defendants have infringed the plaintiff's copyright in drawings; the defendants are passing off their goods and they are imitating the trade dress in making the suitcases to sell their products. The defendants resist the case of the plaintiffs on various grounds. In view of the fact that the parties relied heavily on their respective pleadings to project their respective contentions and the arguments covered a very wide canvass, it has become necessary for me to refer to the pleadings in the first instance and then to deal with the rival contentions put forth at the time of the arguments and the precedents referred to by the learned Counsel for the parties.

(2.) The case of the plaintiffs could be recounted in the following terms. The first plaintiff Samsonite Corporation is a Company operating under the State of Delaware Colorado in the United States of America. The second plaintiff Samsonite India Pvt., Ltd. is a joint venture Company formed by virtue of the agreement dated 7.11.1995 between the first plaintiff and the Indian promoters represented by Mr. Ramesh Tainwala, the present Managing Director of the second plaintiff Co. The first and the second plaintiffs have also entered into technical know-how, trade mark patents and trade name agreement dated 7.11.1995 whereby the second plaintiff is given a licence to use the trade mark and other trade marks, patents and technical know-how. The second plaintiff pursuant to such an agreement has obtained clearance from the concerned authorities. According to the plaintiffs, the first defendant Vijay Sales is stockist in Connaught Place, New Delhi. The second defendant Blowplast India Ltd. is a Company registered under the Companies Act having registered office at Mumbai. The third defendant V.I.P. Industries Ltd. is a Company having registered office at Nasik, Maharashtra. The first plaintiff has established itself as market leaders and trend setters for manufacturing soft and hard luggage, pullmans, carry alls, shoulder bags, backpacks, brief cases, vanity cases of superior quality, contemporary style, innovative design and distinctive colour combinations, which are sold under various specie names but under the umbrella trademark of SAMSONITE. The first plaintiff is a registered proprietor of the trade mark SAMSONITE in 59 countries. In India, the first plaintiff has registered its trade mark SAMSONITE under class 18 bearing registration Nos. 249728 (SAMSONITE word per se) and 286195 (Samsonite logo). The plaintiffs claim that the first plaintiff has subsidiaries and licencees in almost all the countries in the world. The sales turnover on global market in 1996 have been 675.20 million US Dollars. The first plaintiff had advertised on a very large scale and it is claimed:

(3.) Sales turnover of Samsonite System-4 range sold by the 1st Plaintiff is given in paragraph 26 and it is not necessary to extract them. The System-4 range has also been widely advertised in in-flight magazines and other international newspapers and magazines having circulation in India like the Sunday Telegraph Business and the duty free shopping magazine of Khaleej Times. In the year 1994 the first plaintiff had created alwebsite on internet for Samsonite products which is accessible to users of internet in India. On 7.11.1995 there was a product display held by the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs had given advertisement through T.V., press releases and the display was the subject of extensive coverage by the media. In or about February, 1996 the second plaintiff imported into India from Belgium the System-4 Deluxe range and other range on travel goods. The second plaintiff had given a caution notice in newspapers against pirated suitcases with colour and features identical and deceptively similar to that of the suitcases of the first plaintiff. Through the Samsonite Industries news letter published by the second plaintiff intended for stockists and dealers put them on notice that the second plaintiff would be introducing in the Indian market a range of suitcases of international standard under the trade mark SAMSONITE. This was in 1995. The factory of the second plaintiff at Nasik is almost complete and the second plaintiff was proposing to commence commercial operations for travel cases and travel accessories under the trade mark SAMSONITE in India by May/June, 1997. The second plaintiff is the licensed user of the copyright in the artistic work in the drawings based on which the SAMSONITE System-4 range of travel cases are to be manufactured in or around the 25th January, 1997. The second plaintiff came to know about the press release dated 22.1.1997 announcing the launch of range of luggage called Odyssey GLX by the defendants. What the plaintiffs meant is that it was by defendant No. 3. The plaintiffs would state :