Delhi High Court came forth with a case regarding trademark infringement over the term ‘Plant Powered’. The defendant was using the terms to sell its product on online platform Amazon. The defendant claimed that the term in concern here is generic in nature and hence trademark infringement cannot be claimed upon him.
The Plaintiff here was Mother Sparsh Baby Care Pvt Ltd. The Plaintiff is a company incorporated in 2016. It adopted the trademark over ‘Plant Powered’ in 2019. It had been selling products under the name and presented financial documents to support its claims.
The Defendant has been using the term to sell products over ecommerce platforms like Amazon. The defendant defended itself on the ground that the terms were generic. The defendant had also acquired the domain name PlantPowered.in.
The Court found that the Defendant itself had applied for the trademark rights for ‘Plant Powered’. The Court strongly noted that how can the Defendant claim the terms to be generic when the Defendant, itself wanted the terms to be trademarked. Moreover, the products were sold online and Defendant didn’t place any term or mark before ‘Plant Powered’ on its products to establish distinguishability. This could clearly confuse customers.
Moreover, the Plaintiff had even complained earlier to the Defendant. Instead of replying to the Plaintiff, the Defendant got Plaintiff’s products removed from the ecommerce platform. Citing earlier cases, the Court noted that although the terms in question when taken separately are generic in nature. But considering the documents provided by the Plaintiff, it does imply that when joined together, these terms acquire a secondary meaning.
The Court granted permanent injunction barring the Defendant from using the term in question. The Court extended the injunction to the domain name PlantPowered.in.
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