According to the Delhi High Court, selling counterfeit goods is against the public interest and may render a trademark or brand utterly ineffective.
The statement was made by Justice Prathiba M Singh while awarding Woodland Rs. 11 lakhs in damages and expenses in a trademark infringement litigation against an organisation selling counterfeit products under its registered name, "Woodland."
Justice Singh said that such counterfeit sales destroy the market for genuine goods and may render the trade mark and brand itself completely useless, as widespread piracy of a brand reduces its value. According to the court, the sale of such counterfeit items is likewise against the public interest.
The court stated that the defendant entity's use of the 'WOODLAND' mark and emblem on substandard goods infringes Woodland's statutory and common law rights and jeopardises its brand equity.
Woodland filed the complaint against M/s Sahara Belts, a company in the city's Sadar Bazar run by Javed Alam. Alam was accused of marketing and selling counterfeit products such as belts, belt buckles, and wallets bearing the registered 'WOODLAND' mark.
The court ruled in Woodland's favour, stating that more than 11,000 counterfeit products were seized from the Defendant entity's premises, including wallets, purses, belts, belt buckles, and so on, and that such products cannot be marketed openly.
"Accordingly, the suit is decreed against the Defendant and the Defendant is restrained by way of a permanent injunction from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, advertising or in any manner selling any products bearing the 'WOODLAND' word mark 'TREE device, 'WOODLAND' label or any other mark which is identical or deceptively similar to the Plaintiff's mark," according to the court.
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