The Delhi High Court has reiterated that in cases where the possibility of conviction is bleak on account of a compromise between the parties, Court in its inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr.P.C can quash the proceedings to secure the ends of justice or to prevent the abuse of the process of this Court.
Brief Facts of the Case:
The petitioner is a trader and importer of Fire Equipments like sprinklers, beaters, Extinguishing Apparatus etc. The trademarks FORCE and AQUA have been coined by him and are in commercial use since 2006. With long usage of more than 16 years, only the petitioner can use them and is the sole proprietor of the trademarks in relation to their goods/products and services.
Respondent No.2 is a Non-Profit Organization which certifies safety of various articles and is also the proprietor of the certification trademark 'UL' which is permitted to be used on Fire Sprinklers on payment of an annual license fee. Allegedly, on the payment of the same, the petitioner was stated to be entitled to use the aforesaid trademark UL on their articles.
The FIR was filed on behalf of UL LLC (inadvertently mentioned as Underwriter Laboratories-UL in the complaint) which is a global safety science company headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, alleging infringing of trademark 'UL' under the Trademark Act, 1999, on the basis of which, a raid was conducted by the police on the premises of the petitioner and goods were seized. On the basis of said complaint, the present FIR was registered.
Observations of the Court:
The court observed that in view of the settlement, the goods seized during the raid conducted consequent to the registration of the FIR may be released to the petitioner in the presence of the officials of respondent no. 3. The petitioner shall pay to the Respondent no. 2 a sum of 50,000/- within a week
Decision of the Court:
The court quashed the FIR by virtue of joint settlement done by both the parties and the petition was disposed of.
Case Title: Pramod Kumar Jain vs State & Ors.
Case No.: CRL.M.C. 5376/2022
Citation: 2023: DHC: 4079
Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma
Advocates for Petitioner: Mr.N.Mahabir, Mr.Chetan Kumar, Mr.Naveen Gupta and Mr.Prakash, Advocates
Advocates for Respondent: Ms.Shubhi Gupta, APP, Insp.Anant Kiran, Ms.Priya Adlakha, Mr.Vikram Rana and Ms.Rima Majumdar, advocates.
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