District Judge Sanjay Sharma-II held that the defendant had infringed Havells' registered trademark and copyright and passed off counterfeit goods as those of the company. The Court also rejected the defendant's contention that he was merely a scrap dealer and upheld the legality of the search and seizure proceedings conducted by Court-appointed Local Commissioners.

Havells contended that it is the registered proprietor of the well-known trademark HAVELLS, used in relation to electrical goods, including cables and wires. According to the company, an investigation conducted in April 2024 revealed that the defendant was manufacturing, printing and selling counterfeit packaging material bearing identical or deceptively similar HAVELLS marks. It further alleged that such counterfeit products, being of inferior quality, posed a serious risk of short circuits and fire hazards besides causing damage to its goodwill and reputation.

The defendant denied the allegations and claimed that he was an uneducated scrap dealer engaged only in recycling corrugated boxes. He challenged the legality of the search and seizure proceedings, contending that the Local Commissioners had exceeded the authority granted by the Court and that the raids were conducted in violation of the Court's orders. He also questioned Havells' ownership of the trademark and copyright.

After examining the evidence, the Court held that Havells was the registered proprietor of the HAVELLS trademark and rejected the defendant's challenge to its ownership. It held that the assignment of trademark rights in favour of Havells established its entitlement to institute and maintain the suit.

The Court found that substantial quantities of counterfeit packaging material, printing equipment and metal printing plates bearing the HAVELLS mark had been recovered from the defendant's premises. It also noted that the defendant had failed to produce the entire seized material despite specific directions of the Court, and that the evidence clearly established his involvement in manufacturing and dealing in counterfeit packaging material.

Rejecting the defendant's plea that he was merely dealing in scrap, the Court observed that the recovered printing machinery, counterfeit packaging material and other incriminating articles demonstrated commercial counterfeiting activities rather than recycling operations.

The Court further upheld the validity of the search and seizure proceedings carried out by the Court-appointed Local Commissioners, holding that they had acted in accordance with the Court's orders. It rejected the defendant's allegations of trespass and procedural irregularities.

Observing that HAVELLS is a well-known trademark enjoying extensive goodwill and reputation, the Court held that the defendant's use of identical marks was likely to deceive consumers and amounted to trademark infringement as well as passing off.

The Court further observed that counterfeit electrical products pose serious public safety concerns, noting that the use of inferior cables and wires could result in short circuits and fire accidents, thereby endangering human life and property.

Taking note of the defendant's previous involvement in similar allegations, including an earlier FIR relating to counterfeit HAVELLS products, the Court held that the case warranted the award of punitive damages to deter future infringement.

Accordingly, the Court permanently restrained the defendant from manufacturing, printing, marketing, selling, advertising, supplying or otherwise dealing in electrical goods or packaging material bearing the HAVELLS trademark or any deceptively similar mark. It also directed the delivery up of all infringing material for destruction and awarded Havells over ₹26 lakh towards compensatory damages, punitive damages and litigation costs.

Plaintiff Havells India Ltd. was represented by Lex SunRaj through its partners Nitin K. Gupta and Sanchay Mehrotra. The Defendant Vijay/ Baba Packer was represented by Adv. Abhijit Mishra.

Case Title: Havells India Limited v. Vijay

Case No.: CS (Comm.) No. 294/2024

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