'Exclusivity May Vanish': Delhi High Court While Granting Interim Relief To Volvo Against Knock-Off Indian Buses

The Delhi High Court recently issued an ex-parte ad interim injunction restraining a bus manufacturer and two inter-city bus service providers, from infringing the 'grille slash' trademark of Sweden-based renowned Volvo buses.Justice Amit Bansal noted that the Defendants deliberately and dishonestly created buses bearing lookalike of Volvo's trademark to encash upon the company's good will.“The defendant no. 1 has admitted manufacturing and selling such buses carrying the infringing logos on more than 100-125 occasions. If the actions of the defendants remain unrestrained, then the practice of using the infringing grille slash trademarks on any bus will become rampant and the exclusivity associated with the plaintiffs' buses will vanish over time,” the bench observed.Aktiebolaget Volvo was established back in 1915 and Plaintiffs claimed that the word 'VOLVO' is not found in any authoritative English dictionary and is thus a distinctive trademark, solely associated with the plaintiffs. It runs a flagship company namely 'Volvo India Pvt Ltd.' in India since 1996 and 'VOLVO' has been recognized as a well-known trademark pursuant to a Bombay High Court judgment.In the present suit, Volvo submitted that its “grille slash” trademark is of particular significance, which is imposed on the front grille of its automobiles, including cars, buses etc.This trademark is so iconic that its placement on the grille of any bus or other automobile signifies to consumers that the automobile originates from the plaintiffs' 'VOLVO' group, the company argued.It thus challenged the Defendants use of an identical mark in relation to third party automobiles, contending that it constitutes passing off.“Consumers are bound to mistake such third party use as being authorized by, or emanating from the plaintiffs. Any problems with the quality of these buses (sold and operated by Defendants) will be attributable to the plaintiffs because consumers will confuse these buses as originating from, or approved by the plaintiffs,” Volvo contended.It cited customer reviews of the Defendants, complaining that while they had paid good money for the services, they were not given the comfort of travel in a Volvo bus.“It is clear that the defendants' aforesaid acts are violating the statutory and common law rights of the plaintiffs' in the suit trademarks…The defendants' attempt to use the suit trademarks is…with a sole intention of riding piggyback on the plaintiffs' immense reputation,” the Court said and granted interim relief.It also issued summons on the main suit and listed it for hearing on October 09.Appearance: Ms. Vaishali R. Mittal, Mr. Siddhant Chamola and Mr. Saijal Arora, Advocates for PlaintiffCase title: Aktiebolaget Volvo & Ors. v. Shri Ganesh Motor Body Repairs & Ors.Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 706Case no.: CS(COMM) 601/2025Click here to read order

'Exclusivity May Vanish': Delhi High Court While Granting Interim Relief To Volvo Against Knock-Off Indian Buses

Kapil Dhyani

Tags