Delhi High Court Awards ₹30 Lakh Damages To Hungarian Company In Trademark Infringement Suit Over 'HELL' Energy Drink

The Delhi High Court on Thursday decreed a trademark infringement suit in favour of Hungarian company seeking protection of its trademark 'HELL' used for energy drinks. The court also directed the Defendants to pay a sum of Rs.30 lakh to the Plaintiff as costs and damages.

 The grievance of the Plaintiff was that the Defendants were using the mark 'HELLxxx' in respect of energy drinks. It was mentioned that a pervious suit was filed by the Plaintiff wherein the Court had granted an ex-parte ad interim order of injunction. Two Local Commissioners were also appointed in the said matter who seized large amounts of infringing products from the premises of the Defendants. The parties had, thereafter, settled their disputes and had entered into a settlement agreement.

The settlement recognized Plaintiff's rights in the mark 'HELL'/'HELL ENERGY' and other variants and the Defendants undertook that they would not manufacture, sell or advertise products under the impugned mark 'HELLxxx', 'HELL ENERGY DRINK', or any other confusingly or deceptively similar trademark.

In the present case it was alleged that Defendants violated the terms of settlement and launched another product by the name 'HILLxxx'.

The Defendant argued that 'HILLxxx' is a coined mark and is structurally, phonetically, and visually different from Plaintiff's marks 'HELL' and 'HELL ENERGY'.

The bench comprising Justice Pratibha Singh held that in terms of the settlement agreement, the Defendants are not entitled to use the mark "HILLxxx" in any manner, as the same is confusingly and deceptively similar to "HELLxxx", which is the name/mark used by the Plaintiff. It observed,

"The clauses in the said agreement leave no doubt that the Defendants were not permitted to adopt any mark identical or confusingly or deceptively similar to the Plaintiff's mark 'HELLxxx'. The adoption of the mark 'HILLxxx' and the sale of the products under the said mark by the Defendants is a clear indication that the Defendants show scant regard to the orders passed by this Court."

Accordingly, the Court directed the Defendant to pay damages in three installments by 30th November, 2022. The Court also made it clear that if the Defendants are found to be in violation of the court orders again, they would be liable to pay damages to the tune of Rs. 1,00,00,000/-.

"The Defendants shall ensure that the proposed label and mark of their product are not in any manner identical or deceptively/ confusingly similar to that of the Plaintiff. The new label and the mark which would be adopted by the Defendant shall be given to the Plaintiff, within ten days from today," it directed.

CASE TITLE: HELL ENERGY MAGYARORSZAG KFT v. SHRI BRAHM SHAKTI PRINCE BEVERAGES PVT LTD & ORS. 

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 702

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& OR