Arun Kumar JUDGMENT
Arun Kumar, J.
(1) The plaintiff has filed the present suit for injunction to restrain defendant No. 1 from infringing its copyright in its name with the logo and for passing off its trade name/goodwill and for rendition of accounts. Defendant No. 2, who was an artist who prepared the logo used by the plaintiff, has been impleaded as defendant No. 2. However, no relief is claimed against him. The said defendant has died in the meanwhile. Therefore, the suit is now only against defendant No. 1. Along with the suit, the plaintiff filed an application being I.A. No. 14519/91 under Order 39 Rules I and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure for grant of interim injunction in its favor. On the said application, ex parte interim order was passed in favor of the plaintiff on 5th December,1991 whereby the defendant was restrained from using the trade name 'Prakash' or trade logo, which is deceptively similar to that of the plaintiff. The defendant moved an application being I.A. No. 14690/91 under Order 39 Rule 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure for vacating/discharging the said injunction order. This order will dispose of both the aforesaid applications.
(2) The case of the plaintiff is that for the last over 30 years, the plaintiff company is engaged in the business of transport and carriage of goods and parcels. The said business is being run under the name and style of 'Prakash Road Lines Ltd.'. The plaintiff has also been using the artistic work comprising of the figure of a cat with a crown on its head and a parcel in its hands as its logo. According to the plaintiff, the continued user of the words 'Prakash Road Lines', with the aforesaid logo has acquired a distinct identity. The said logo and the trade name has acquired enormous goodwill for the plaintiff in the transport business. The plaintiff claims to have acquired and established a superior reputation due to its impeccable record of providing high quality service to its clients. It has over 3300 offices all over India and is employing more than 2500 employees. The annual turn over of the plaintiff company is almost Rs.50 crores. The plaintiff has given a break-up of its expenses on advertisement and promotion of its trade name/logo which during the last three years has been about Rs.l5 lakhs, Rs.21 lakhs and Rs.21 lakhs respectively.
(3) On the basis of the above facts, it is claimed that the said trade name/logo have been identified as a trade name and logo of the plaintiff in the entire transport industry through out the country to such an extent that plaintiff's name 'Prakash' and/or the logo comprising of the combination of a cat with a crown and a parcel is displayed, shown or mentioned, the common man associates the same with the plaintiff. The plaintiff claims to have obtained the endorsement of its copyright over the said logo from the Registrar of Companies. By virtue of long and established user coupled with vast publicity given to the said trade mark, the plaintiff claims to have acquired exclusive rights as proprietor thereof. The word 'Prakash' and the logo of the cat with a crown and a parcel in its hand is prominently displayed and is written in bold and distinctive writing in all the advertisements, publicity material, hoardings, sign-boards, printed material, price lists, stationary etc. of the plaintiff. Thus, the word 'Prakash' and the logo have become associated distinctively with the enormous goodwill enjoyed by the plaintiff.
(4) It is further the case of the plaintiff that the defendant company has been recently floated by former Directors/employees of the plaintiff company with the mala fide intention of exploiting/enchasing/misusing the goodwill associated with the trade name 'Prakash' and the logo of the plaintiff. The defendant company has been floated under the name and style of 'Prakash Parcel Services (P) Ltd'. -The manner of the use of word 'Prakash' in the name of........