Delhi High Court says single-judge erred in denying relief to Forest Essentials in trademark case against Baby Forest

The Delhi High Court recently observed that a single-judge seemed to have prima facie erred in refusing to grant interim relief to Ayurvedic cosmetics, skincare and perfume company Forest Essentials in a trademark dispute against Ayurvedic baby care products company Baby Forest .A Division Bench of Justices Vibhu Bakhru and Tara Vitasta Ganju gave a prima facie finding that the single-judge was wrong in interpreting the doctrine of 'initial interest confusion' to deny relief to Forest Essentials. "Prima facie, we find merit in the appellant’s contention that the learned single-judge has erred in its interpretation of the doctrine of ‘initial interest confusion’ to entail persistence of confusion till a stage that the transaction is consummated. The doctrine of ‘initial interest confusion’ entails that there is confusion only at the initial stage and there is no confusion when the transaction for sale and purchase is completed. The customers are in no doubt of the product they are buying when the sale is completed. The confusion is only at the initial stage,” the Division Bench observedThe Bench, therefore, issued notice to Baby Forest on Forest Essentials’ appeal against the single-judge order and listed the case for further hearing on September 9..In an order passed on May 15, Justice Anish Dayal had refused to grant interim relief to Forest Essentials. The Court had observed that the word 'forest' is generic and that Forest Essentials could not claim dominance over a part of its trademark without registering it separately.On the aspect of the alleged deceptive similarity between two companies' products, the single-judge had said that the packaging and the logo of the products were very dissimilar.A couple of social media references are not enough to show that there is ‘widespread confusion’ or likelihood of the same, it had said. Google search suggestion was not enough to show confusion as algorithms on Google work on a variety of factors, the single-judge had ruled.Forest Essentials then moved the Division Bench in appeal. .Advocates Swathi Sukumar, Essenese Obhan, Ayesha Guhathakurta and Anjuri Saxena appeared for Forest Essentials.Baby Forest was represented by Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta and advocates Jayant K Mehta and advocatesSandeep Chatterjee, Tanya Arora and Jaydeep Roy..[Read Order]