Delhi High Court grants relief to IKEA in trademark suit against Indian firm IKEY

The Delhi High Court recently granted interim injunction in favour of Swedish multinational home furnishing giant IKEA in a trademark infringement suit filed against Indian company IKEY Home Studio [Inter Ikea Systems BV vs. IKey Home Studio LLP and Anr.]..Justice Mini Pushkarna restrained the Indian company from using marks ‘IKEY’, ‘IKEY Home Studio' or any other mark deceptively similar to the IKEA trademark and from passing off its products as IKEA's products."Till the next date of hearing, defendant no.1, its partners, their legal heirs, proprietors, employees, servants, agents, representatives and all others in active concert or participation with them, are restrained from selling/ advertising/ importing/ exporting or in any other way dealing in goods and providing services under the impugned mark ‘IKEY’, ‘IKEY HOME STUDIO’, , ‘ ’ and/or any other deceptively similar mark, in any manner which amounts to infringement of the plaintiff’s IKEA trademark and amounting to passing off of the defendant no.1’s products as that of the plaintiff," the order dated December 18 said.Pertinently, the Court also directed it to suspend the domain name ikeyllp.com during the pendency of the case and to disclose the registrant details of the domain name. "The plaintiff has demonstrated a prima facie case for grant of injunction and in case no ex-parte ad-interim injunction is granted, the plaintiff will suffer an irreparable loss. Further, the balance of convenience also lies in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants,” the Court stated..IKEA, which designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances, interior decoration and home accessories stated that it has a globally valuable and enduring trade, goodwill and reputation since 1943.“It is submitted that apart from plaintiff’s statutory rights over its IKEA trademarks overseas, the plaintiff’s trademark has also been declared well-known in several countries, such as but not limited to China, Chile and Indonesia, Italy, Kazakhstan, EU, Turkey and Vietnam. Additionally, the WIPO Arbitration and Conciliation Centre has passed several orders recognizing the well-known status of the IKEA trademark,” IKEA told the Court. .It was during a routine market check of the Trade Marks journal that IKEA came across five trademark applications filed by IKEY which sells tiles, sanitary wares, plumbing materials, hardware and paints, glass and plywood.Thereafter, IKEA first sent a cease and desist notice to IKEY but IKEY denied any similarity between their trademarks. IKEA deputed an investigator to enquire into the activities of IKEY through which it came across IKEY’s website and its store named IKEY. It submitted that IKEY’s website stated that they “showcase a wide variety of products from renowned brands”, and so it has serious apprehension that an unwary consumer will mistakenly believe that IKEY is engaged in stocking and selling IKEA’s products.None appeared on behalf of IKEY.Hence, the Court proceeded to pass an ex-parte injunction in favour of IKEA and listed the case for further consideration on May 9, 2025. .Advocates Shwetasree Majumder, Tanya Varma, Vardaan Anand and Ruchika Yadav appeared for IKEA.[Read Order]