Recently, the Delhi High Court refused an interim injunction to Soothe Healthcare Pvt. Ltd (‘Plaintiff’) against Dabur India Ltd. (‘Defendant’) in a suit alleging trademark infringement and passing off on the ground that no prima facie case was made out.
The Plaintiff claimed to be involved in the business of personal hygiene products and the registered proprietor of the marks SUPER CUTESTERS, SUPER CUTES and SUPER CUTEZ in Class 5. The Plaintiff cited revenue and advertising figures to claim goodwill and reputation in its marks.
As per the Plaintiff, it came across the defendant’s use of the deceptively similar SUPER PANTS mark and sent it a letter demanding cessation of all use.
On the other hand, counsel for Defendant argued that SUPER is a laudatory word which is common to trade and that Defendant has sought registration for the device SUPER PANTS which includes the DABUR mark of the Defendant. Defendant also argued that there is no similarity in packaging of the rival products.
The court agreed that the packaging is dissimilar and the word SUPER is common to trade and used by various sellers in a laudatory and descriptive manner. It was also held that registration for the Plaintiff’s marks would not give exclusive right over use of the word SUPER.
Soothe Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. v. Dabur India Ltd., CS(COMM) 18/2022, Order dt. March 3, 2022