M2262 |
FR.C.RIDRIGUES INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES |
MMS-1ST YEAR |
BY MR.VIVEK ASHOK KHETIA |
|
V GUARD INDUSTRIES LTD.
v/s
SUKAN RAJ JAIN & ANR.
V Guard Industries Ltd., is a company with its registered office in Kerala to be in the business of manufacturing, distribution and marketing/selling of electrical goods which it sells under the registered trade mark V-GUARD
The other party M/s N-guard electronics ltd having registered office in Bengaluru, Karnataka
The case is of Infringement of TM ACT, 1999.
By this the court has ordered on date 18.01.2021 to had restrained the Sukan raj jain by way of an interim order from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, advertising, directly or indirectly dealing in offending products i.e., machines, electronic, electrical parts and fittings etc. under the impugned mark N-GUARD domain name „www.nguard.in‟ or any other mark/trade name/trade dress/domain name which are similar to v guard industries Registered trade mark V GUARD
Then the n guard questioned the territorial jurisdiction of this court as N GUARD didn’t carry any business in delhi nor his agent or distribution was held in delhi or don’t have offices in delhi .
But then the V GUARD through its representative found that they purchased the product of N GUARD through www.amzon.in which sold that product which clarified that the N GUARD is selling its product through third party websites like Flipkhart, Snap deal, Indiamart and Shopclues.
Then the N GUARD claimed that this purchase was trap purchase
Then on that basis judgement was passed as N-GUARD had to change its name and stop the domain under the trademark act .The n guard is carrying out its sales through third party websites and n guard name is mention in the place of seller of product The court also said that sale done was not a trap sale it was open for all and can be purchased by any party as it is accessible to all platforms by e-commerce sites
This decision is a lesson for product manufacturers selling their products to distributors to include clear terms in their agreements clarifying the territories and modes through which the distributors can sell the goods. Failure to do so could result in companies facing litigations in territories where they do not intend to do business at all. Companies must therefore ensure that they have control over the channels through which their products are being sold in the market. The N GUARD in this case has attempted to argue that the seller through whom the V GUARD has purchased the product is not an authorized seller of the N GUARD. The Court however has not discussed this aspect in its decision, possibly since this is a matter of trial, and since the N GUARD itself was listed as a seller of its products in other third party websites.