MANU/DE/3332/2018

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI

CS (COMM) 659/2018

Decided On: 12.09.2018

Appellants: Sandisk LLC and Ors. Vs. Respondent: Memory World

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Manmohan

JUDGMENT

Manmohan, J.

1. Present suit has been filed for permanent injunction restraining infringement of trade mark, rendition of accounts, damages etc. against the defendant.

2. Vide order dated 27th February, 2018 this Court granted an ex parte ad interim injunction against the defendant and also appointed a Local Commissioner to visit the premises of the defendant to make an inventory and take into custody all infringing products and their packaging and any other materials including advertising material pamphlets, brochures, cartons etc. bearing the plaintiffs' trademarks SANDISK, and the Red Frame logo and return the seized infringing goods to the defendant on Superdari upon its furnishing an undertaking that it will produce the goods as and when called upon to do so by the Court. The Local Commissioner visited the premises of the defendants on 10th March, 2018 and the following quantities of memory cards, loose product packaging, pamphlets and visiting cards were seized:-

(i) Memory card 32 GB - 3 pieces

(ii) Memory card 8 GB - 33 pieces

(iii) Memory card 16 GB - 80 pieces (iv) Memory card 4 GB - 38 pieces

(v) Loose product packaging 16GB - 489 pieces

(vi) Loose product packaging 8GB - 145 pieces

(vii) Loose product packaging 4GB - 389 pieces

(viii) Pamphlets - 930 pieces

(ix) Visiting cards - approx. 700 pieces

The seized products were delivered on Superdari to Mr. Prasanth M.

3. The defendant entered appearance through counsel on 27th April, 2018 and thereafter it failed to appear and was proceeded ex parte on 31st July, 2018 on which date the ex parte ad interim injunction order was confirmed till the disposal of the suit.

4. At this stage, learned counsel for the plaintiffs gives up prayers 23 (c) of the prayer clause to the suit. The statement made by learned counsel for plaintiffs is accepted by this Court and plaintiffs are held bound by the same. Learned counsel for plaintiffs prays that in view of the judgment of this Court in Satya Infrastructure Ltd. &Ors. Vs. Satya Infra & Estates Pvt. Ltd., MANU/DE/0511/2013, the present suit be decreed qua the relief of injunction, delivery up and costs. The portion of the said judgment relied upon by learned counsel for the plaintiffs is reproduced hereinbelow:-

"I am of the opinion that no purpose will be served in such cases by directing the plaintiffs to lead ex parte evidence in the form of affidavit by way of examination-in-chief and which invariably is a repetition of the contents of the plaint. The plaint otherwise, as per the amended CPC, besides being verified, is also supported by affidavits of the plaintiffs. I fail to fathom any reason for according any additional sanctity to the affidavit by way of examination-in-chief than to the affidavit in support of the plaint or to any exhibit marks being put on the documents which have been filed by the plaintiffs and are already on record. I have therefore heard the counsel for the plaintiffs on merits qua the relief of injunction."

5. The relevant facts of the present case are that the plaintiff No. 1, a company founded in 1998, is one of the world's largest dedicated providers of flash memory storage solutions under the house mark SanDisk and has been directly selling its products in the Indian market since 2005. The plaintiff No. 1 is a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company which designs, develops and manufactures data storage solutions in a range of form factors using the flash memory, controller and firmware technologies. The plaintiff No. 2 is the registered user of the trademarks SanDisk, and the Red Frame Logo belonging to the plaintiff No. 1.

6. It is stated in the plaint that the plaintiff No. 1's pioneering flash mem........