Delhi High Court grants relief to Crocs in trademark case against 'Croose’

The Delhi High Court has ordered the deletion of a trademark registration for the mark ‘Croose’ on finding that it is deceptively similar to the trademark held by American footwear company Crocs [Crocs Inc Vs The Registrar Of Trademarks New Delhi & Anr.]..Founded in 2002, Crocs is a US-based footwear brand having an international presence. Crocs had approached the High Court seeking the cancelation the trademark ‘Croose’ registered with the Registrar of Trademarks in India. .On September 26, Justice Tejas Karia observed that the trademark ‘Croose’ is likely to cause confusion among its consumers since it is deceptively similar to 'Crocs.' The Court compared the products sold under the two marks and found that the mark ‘Croose’ is similar to the mark ‘Crocs’ both visually and phonetically. “Therefore, the Impugned Mark (Croose) is hit by Section 11(1)(b) of the (Trademarks) Act, which prohibits registration of a Trade Mark that is deceptively similar to a Trade Mark, which is already on the register in respect of identical or similar goods,” the Court added. .The Court concluded that the mark ‘Croose’ deserves to be removed from the register of trade marks in order to maintain purity of the register.Accordingly, the Court has directed the Trademark Registry to remove the mark ‘Croose’ from the register. It added that the website of the Registrar of Trade Marks shall also be updated within a period of four weeks.“The present Petition is allowed and Respondent No. 1, the Trade Marks Registry is directed to remove the Impugned Mark ‘Croose’ bearing Registration No. 3409214 in Class 25 registered in the name of Respondent No.2 from the Register of Trade Marks,” the Court directed. .In its petition, Crocs claimed that it had registered its mark in India between the years 2005 and 2006. Crocs said that it has a distinctive style, international goodwill and reputation which is being exploited by the mark ‘Croose’ with similar lettering and placement of the mark.For these reasons, Crocs sought that the trademark ‘Croose’ be deleted from the register of trade marks.During hearings, Croose did not file any reply or written submissions. However, the Court recorded its oral submissions, where Croose opposed the arguments made by Crocs. It eventually ruled in favour of Crocs in the matter. .Advocates Ajay Amitabh Suman, Shravan Kumar Bansal, Rishi Bansal, Deepak Srivastava, Shruti Manchanda and D Mehra appeared for Crocs. Advocates Ashish K. Dixit, Shivam Tiwari and Umar Hashmi appeared for Registrar of Trademarks.Advocates Harshit Jain and Rahul Kumar, appeared for Croose. .[Read judgment]