Bombay HC grants interim relief to Natural Ice Cream in Rs.150 crore trademark infringement case

Read order: Siddhant Icecreams LLP & Ors vs. Natural Ice Cream & Anr

Pankaj Bajpai

Mumbai, July 28, 2021: The Bombay High Court has granted interim relief in favour of Natural Ice Cream in a Rs. 150 crore trademark infringement suit and restrained a Vadodara-based entity from using the mark NATURAL as part of its business name or trading style.

Justice G.S Patel observed that the defendants had no independent right to use the NATURAL mark and the plaintiff company owning the brand mark were registered proprietors of the mark since 1984.

The plaintiffs are in the business of manufacturing, selling and distributing ice cream and related products through branded ice cream parlours under what they call the NATURAL family of marks. 

The dispute arose when the plaintiffs came across an ice cream parlour in Vadodara using the mark NATURAL. Upon preliminary inquiry, the plaintiff found out that the outlet was owned by a business entity ‘Natural Ice Cream’ and that the defendants were advertising their ice cream on social media using the rival mark. 

Even though the signage of the defendant said ‘since 1992’ the Court concluded that the plaintiffs seemed to be the registered proprietors using the mark which could be traced back to 1984 and therefore, the defendant had no independent right to use the NATURAL mark.

Satisfied that prima facie a case is made out by the plaintiffs, the High Court granted an ad-interim injunction against the defendants from infringing any of the NATURAL family registered marks or from using NATURAL as part of the defendants’ business name or trading style.

Accordingly Justice Patel proceeded to grant ad-interim relief which will operate till September 9, 2021 unless vacated earlier by the Court.