The Single Bench of the Delhi High Court (the “Court”) in Tata SIA Airlines Limited vs. Vistara Buildtech LLP & Anr., CS (COMM) 116/2023, granted ex-parte interlocutory injunctive reliefs in favor of the Plaintiff and against the Defendants thereby preventing the Defendants from using the trade mark “VISTARA” both as a word and as part of any label/device marks.
The Court granted the reliefs based on the following parameters:
· ‘VISTARA’ is a coined word and has no etymological significance;
· The Plaintiff is the prior user of the trade mark ‘VISTARA’ since 2015 in relation to commercial aviation industry and the Defendants as a partnership firm came into existence only in 2022;
· Although, the Defendant’s trade mark is used in relation to commercial properties; the Plaintiff’s ‘VISTARA’ trade mark has been declared as a well-known trade mark by the Court in 2019 and thereby the Plaintiff’s ‘VISTARA’ trade mark is entitled for protection against non-competing services as per Section 29 (4) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999.
Remarks
The Court’s observations re-affirms the following principles:
(i) That coined and/or fanciful words are accorded higher protection in the spectrum of distinctiveness;
(ii) That date of first adoption and use has significance; &
(iii) That a well-known trade mark is entitled for protection even for non-competing goods and/or services.
Authors: Nitin Abhishek
