Recently, the Delhi High Court granted an interim injunction to Khandelwal Edible Oils Ltd. ('Plaintiff") against Landsmill Agro Pvt. Ltd. ("Defendant"). The Plaintiff (the registered proprietor and user of the mark CHAKRA in respect of mustard oil and holder of copyright registrations for CHAKRA-branded labels) claimed that the Defendant is selling edible oils under the marks CHAKRA KOLHU, CHAKRIKA & CHAKRESH with a deceptively similar label. It also relied on the Defendant's admission as to the similarity of the rival marks in a cancellation action it had filed against the Plaintiff's registration for the CHAKRA mark. The Defendant, in its defense, argued that the word CHAKRA is common to trade as it is descriptive of the manner in which oil is extracted and that the Plaintiff cannot claim monopoly over such a word. It also averred that the CHAKRESH mark is registered in its favor since 2017.
The court was of the view that the contentions regarding the descriptive nature of the CHAKRA mark is a matter of trial and that the manner of use of the word CHAKRA in the CHAKRA KOLHU mark on the label used by the Defendant is identical to that of the font, stylization of the Plaintiff's CHAKRA mark. As such, the court restrained the Defendant from using the CHAKRA KOLHU mark. However, the court gave the Defendant an opportunity to file its reply insofar as the CHAKRIKA and CHAKRESH marks were concerned.
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