ITC LIMITED Vs. SHREE DEVI MATCH INDUSTRIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The suit is filed under the Trade Marks Act and Copyright Act alleging infringement and passing off petitioner's product by the defendants who are carrying on their business in Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

(2.) The case of the plaintiff is that, it is a well established business house with history of 100 years carrying on business in diverse fields including manufacturing and sale of safety matches under various trade marks inter alia, CHEETA FIGHT, HOME LITES, THREE MANGOES, AIM, SHIP and KAPAS. These trade marks of the plaintiff have acquired immense goodwill and reputation owing to the high quality of goods manufactured and marketed by them.

(3.) The present suit pertaining to the trade mark of THREE MANGOES was originally adopted by M/s.Western India Match Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as M/s.WIMCO Ltd) as early as in the year 1924 and obtained registration on 19.03.2001 in respect of matches. In the year 2014, under a scheme of arrangement approved by Mumbai and Kolkatta High Courts, the assets of the non-engineering business of M/s.WIMCO Limited, which include the trade mark THREE MANGOES, were transferred to the plaintiff. Thereafter, the plaintiff applied for name change from M/s.WIMCO Limited to plaintiff as the proprietor. The trade mark THREE MANGOES used by M/s.WIMCO Limited for several decades is currently in use by the plaintiff. The plaintiff has designed a distinguished unique and eye catchy label consisting of distinctive features bearing the words THREE MANGOES written in a stylish font represented within a special artistic background, with the image representation of THREE MANGOES and the unique colour combination of red and yellow to arrive at a distinctive get up and trade dress.