LOTUS LTD Vs. MTNASIUNNESSABA BEGUM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiffs in this case are a company registered at Stafford in England carrying on business as boot and shoe manufacturers. They state that they are the sole proprietors of a registered trade mark known as Lotus in respect of boots, shoes and slippers manufactured and sold by them. It appears that the plaintiffs are the succes-sors-in-title of a corporation known as F. Bostock & Co., Ltd., and that the trade mark has been registered in England since 1903, and in India since 1911. The plaintiffs further say that the boots, shoes and slippers manufactured by them are well known to the public generally by the name of Lotus , which name distinguishes the plaintiffs goods from the goods of other manufacturers.

(2.) They set out in the plaint particulars of the label which is affixed to the boxes in which their goods are sold, and also particulars of the representation of a lotus flower which is stamped upon the soles of the boots, shoes and slippers of their manufacture.

(3.) The suit was originally instituted against the male defendant who was alleged to be proprietor of a business calling itself "New Lotus Footwear" carried on at the shop in the New Market, Calcutta. The allegation was that the plaintiffs came to learn in 1932 that the male defendant was manufacturing and offering for sale and selling footwear under the name of Lotus and passing his goods off as goods manufactured by the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs ask for an injunction for damages and for delivery of all stock and labels for destruction. When the written statement was filed on behalf of the male defendant, the plaintiffs discovered that among the allegations therein was one that the business known as New Lotus Footwear did not belong to him, but to his daughter, a lady by the name of Mt. Nasiunnessaba Begum, wife of Ali Afzal. The plaintiffs therefore took the necessary steps to add this lady as a defendant and asked for consequential amendments of the plaint.