'Intent To Mislead Consumers': Delhi HC Permanently Restrains Rogue Website From Infringing L'Oreal's Trademark, Imposes ₹ 1 Lakh Cost

The Delhi High Court has granted a permanent injunction in favour of the French brand L'Oreal SA against trademark infringement by a rogue website run by unknown defendant using its 'L'Oreal' mark and misrepresenting themselves are the representative of the company.In doing so the court also imposed a cost of Rs. 1 Lakh on the defendant to be paid in eight weeks. Justice Mini Pushkarna in her order, after comparing the website of Plaintiff–L'Oreal SA with that of the defendant's website called 'www.lorealglobal.in', observed:"The above comparison of the plaintiff's official website www.loreal.com with the defendant's impugned website www.lorealglobal.in shows that the defendant has replicated essential features, including, the plaintiff's logos and website layout. The similarity between the two websites is so striking that an average consumer with imperfect recollection would be unable to distinguish between the two. It appears that the intent behind such imitation is to mislead consumers into believing that the defendant's website is affiliated with the plaintiff""This Court notes that the defendant's use of email addresses such as 'paresh.deshmukh@lorealglobal.in' and 'ashwini.r@lorealglobal.in' further demonstrates a deliberate attempt to impersonate the plaintiff's employees. The same seems to be a calculated effort to deceive third parties, such as Nicholas Healthcare Limited, into believing that they were transacting with official representatives or employees of L'Oréal. Further, the fraudulent activities of the defendant, including, issuing fake purchase orders under the plaintiff's name, indicate malafide intent and constitute infringement of the plaintiff's rights in their trademarks," the court added. BackgroundThe plaintiff L'Oreal SA submitted that it works in India through its wholly owned subsidiary, L'Oreal India Pvt. Ltd.It stated that it has been using the L'Oreal mark since 1900 and that it sells its products in about 130 countries across the world including India.The plaintiff submitted that the defendants are unknown person(s) (defendant no. 1) are running a website under the domain name www.lorealglobal.in, which contains its trademark. It contended that the defendants have engaged in fraud, impersonation and are misleading the general public into believing that they are acting on behalf of it. It stated that the unknown defendant sought to purchase products worth approximately ₹1 Crore from a third party, Nicholas Healthcare Limited. It argued that the defendant supplied the fake and forged GST certificate, fake and forged Incorporation certificate and fake and forged cancelled cheque in its Indian subsidiary name to Nicholas HealthcareThe plaintiff contended that the website is being used with a malafide intent to mislead the common public. It stated that infringement of its registered trademark is resulting in loss of its business and reputation.FindingsNoting that no written statement was filed by the defendant and no purpose would be served in putting the matter for trial, the high court proceeded with a summary judgment. The Court noted that L'Oreal's sales of 27.99 billion Euros and an operating profit of 5.20 billion Euros generated across 150 countries reflected its substantial goodwill and a strong reputation both globally and in India over the years. It observed that the defendant's impugned website has replicated essential features, including L'Oreal's logos and website layout. It stated that an average consumer would be unable to distinguish between the real and impugned website. It observed this is to mislead consumers into believing that the defendant's website is affiliated with L'oreal. It noted that in September 2021, the Court issued ex-parte ad-interim injunction, restraining the unknown defendant from using the impugned website and email ids.In view of the above, the Court held that a case of trademark infringement was made out. It thus permanently restrained the unknown defendant from infringing L'oreal's trademark. It directed defendant no. 1 to pay Rs. 1 lakh to L'oreal.The Court directed the Domain Name Registrar, NIXI, (defendant no. 2) to not permit any domain name/website to be opened under the 'co.in' and '.in' extensions consisting of the mark 'Loreal'.Title: LOREAL S.A. v. ASHOK KUMAR AND & ORS.Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 399Click Here To Read/Download Order

'Intent To Mislead Consumers': Delhi HC Permanently Restrains Rogue Website From Infringing L'Oreal's Trademark, Imposes ₹ 1 Lakh Cost

Sanjana Dadmi

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