The Himachal Pradesh High Court recently restrained Accord Distillers & Brewers Pvt Ltd. (“Defendant”) from using “MISSIONARY MONKS AUTHENTIC PURE XO BRANDY”, and/ or any other marks that are identical or similar to the Mohan Meakin Limited’s (“Plaintiff”) OLD MONK and/ or MONK marks.
The suit was based on the Plaintiff’s earlier rights in the marks OLD MONK and MONK. It was the Plaintiff’s case that the Defendant’s adoption of the mark “MISSIONARY MONKS AUTHENTIC PURE XO BRANDY” in a manner to portray the word MONK prominently amounts to passing-off of the Defendant’s goods as goods originating from the Plaintiff and infringement of the Plaintiff’s right in its registered marks.
The court observed that the Plaintiff has prior statutory rights as well as common law over the marks OLD MONK and MONK and has made a prima facie in its favour. Accordingly, the court granted an ad interim injunction in favour of the Plaintiff and restrained the Defendant from using the mark “MISSIONARY MONKS AUTHENTIC PURE XO BRANDY” till the next date of hearing.
Mohan Meakin Limited vs. Accord Distillers & Brewers Pvt. Ltd., COMS No.1 of 2023, Order dt. March 17, 2023