INTOUCH LEATHER HOUSE INDIA PVT. LTD. A COMPANY INCORPORATED UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT, 1956 Vs. ISHAAN OVERSEAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) I have heard Mr. Poojari for the Plaintiff and Mr. Memon for the Defendant at some length.

(2.) The action is in trade mark infringement and passing off. The Plaintiff has registration of a device mark as also of a word mark, ESBEDA. The Plaintiff claims to have adopted it in 2006. It is used for designer leather products such as handbags, luggage, purses and wallets. The word ESBEDA is written in a special slab serif font in capitals. There is a device which looks like a stylized lower-case "e" with a mirror image, the two being joined at the centre. Representations of the marks are annexed, [Plaint, Exhibits "A1" and "A2", pp. 31-32] as are registration certificates under various classes. [Plaint, Exhibits "C1" to "C7", pp. 36 to 55]

(3.) One Maniben Shamji Bheda used to do business in leather products in the name and style of M/s Intouch Leather. In September 2006, her son Satish Shamji Bheda coined the mark, combining, the Plaintiff says, the phonetic of the first letter 'S' of his first and middle names and a phonetic equivalent of his surname, Bheda, to form 'ESBEDA'. He also conceived, designed and developed the artwork in the logo of the stylized lower-case 'e' and its mirror image joined in the centre. Another label superimposing the device on the word mark came later, developed with the help of commercial artists. Applications for trade mark registration were made on 12th September 2006 in Classes 18 and 25. On its incorporation, the Plaintiff took over the business of M/s Intouch Leather. On 26th June 2009, the Plaintiff filed application No. 1833696 for registration of the 'e'/mirror image logo in Class 18, claiming user since 2006. The first two registrations in the name of Mrs. Maniben Shamji Bheda were assigned to the Plaintiff on 3rd February 2010. The Plaintiff has made the necessary applications to have itself recorded as the registered proprietor of the earlier two marks. It now claims to be the registered proprietor of all three marks.