Bombay High Court grants ad-interim relief in favour of "DR FIXIT" marks and labels of Pidilite Industries in Trademark infringement suit

The Bombay High Court recently granted ad-interim relief in favour of Pidilite Industries for the trademark and labels with respect to their Dr. Fixit range of products. .Justice GS Patel injuncted O-Chem Sealers Private Ltd from adopting the marks, labels and the container shape registered by Pidilite Industries with respect to Dr. Fixit products. The Court saw no valid justification for O-Chem to have adopted the marks, use of the labels and the container shape. "All of these entitle it to statutory protection as also, at least so far as trade mark and copyright are concerned, common law remedies," the Court said.In view of this, he passed an order restraining O-Chem from manufacturing, marketing, selling, advertising, offering to sell or dealing in the impugned products or any similar goods or any other goods bearing the impugned marks LWC or URP or any marks incorporating them..Pidilite has a range of products sold under various marks, LW+, LW, URP, DR FIXIT, PIDIPROOF, FEVICOL, PIDILITE, FEVISTIK, FEFI KWIK, D3, SH, MARINE, M-SEAL, FEVICRYL and a mark of a device of two opposing elephants pulling in opposite directions of a globe.Pidilite also has a unique and distinctive storage can for its DR FIXIT range of products including those that are sold under the LW/ LW+ registered marks and labels and the URP registered marks.Pidilitem has a broad spectrum of intellectual property rights - trade mark, copyright and design, the Court was informed. .The present suit was filed seeking to protect a number of marks namely LW/LW+, DR FIXIT and URP with its variant series, artistic works and a design from infringement and passing off. In October 2020, Pidilite came across a water-proofing compound product being put into the market by O-Chem. This bore the mark LWC.Pidilite's grievance was that O-Chem wrongfully used not only with the LW labels, the URP mark but also attempted to pirate the design-protected Dr Fixit container.O-Chem had used the marks, a label that was a substantial reproduction and an impermissible and colourable imitation of Pidilite’s LW/LW+ labels and the artistic works in those labels..Justice Patel observed that the colour construction product by O-Chem was undoubtedly identical or confusingly similar to Pidilite's URP mark.He opined that a very strong prima facie case was made out, both for infringement and passing off, for all three forms of intellectual property that Pidilite seeks to protect.He, therefore, proceeded to grant interim relief in favour of Pidilite. .[Read order]