The Delhi High Court recently comprising of a bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh restrained two Ludhiana-based companies from manufacturing and advertising bicycles under the ‘RALLIES’ mark after a Switzerland-based cycle manufacturer claimed infringement of its 125-year-old ‘RALEIGH’ trademark. (Swiss Bike Vertrjebs GMBH Subsidiary of Accell Group v Imperial Cycle MEG. Co. (Partnership Firm) & Anr.)
The bench also directed the entities - Imperial Cycle Mfg. Co. and Rocket Cycles Private Limited, to shut down their website www.ralliesbikes.com, within a period of one week.
Facts of the case
The Plaintiff in the present case is Swiss Bike Vertriebs GMBH a subsidiary of ACCELL Group based out of Switzerland which has a history of over 125 years and it owns and operates a wide range of bike/bicycle brands throughout Europe.
The defendant company is based out of Ludhiana, Punjab for exclusively manufacturing, importing, selling and distributing ‘RALEIGH’ bicycles products in India. The said mark is also a registered trademark in India.
Raleigh approached the High Court arguing that the adoption of the mark ‘Rallies’ by the defendants was violative of its statutory and common law rights because the mark's phonetical similarity to ‘Raleigh’.
Moreover, the defendants were not merely copying the mark but also various other attributes such as colour combination used on the bikes, images of the plaintiff’s bicycles and even the plaintiff’s advertisement poster available on their website.
The defendants’ website was also portraying that their bicycles are manufactured in the UK which is bound to create confusion between the two.
Contention of the Parties
Plaintiff submitted that the adoption of mark ‘RALLIES’ by the defendants was violative of the plaintiff’s statutory and common law rights as the defendants’ mark was phonetically similar to the plaintiff’s mark ‘RALEIGH’. It was also submitted that defendants were portraying that their bicycles were manufactured in the UK. Therefore, the plaintiff sought an ad-interim injunction as there was confusion between the two marks ‘RALEIGH’ and ‘RALLIES’ and even the business was also identical.
Counsel for the defendants submitted that the defendants were ready to give up the use of the trade mark ‘RALLIES’ but they would require 18 months to clear the existing stock of ‘RALLIES’. It was also submitted that no bicycles would be manufactured, marketed, or sold by the defendants under the trade name ‘RALLIES’ apart from the existing stock.
Courts Observation and order
The bench at the very outset observed:
"The undertaking of the Defendant is accepted. The Defendants shall cease manufacture as well as advertising in physical shops and through online platforms including e-commerce platforms of all such goods mentioned above, under the mark ‘RALLIES’ or any other mark which is identical/deceptively similar mark to the Plaintiff’s mark 'RALEIGH'."
The bench disposing of the application remarked, "Insofar as the existing stock of the Defendants is concerned, the Defendants have prayed for 18 months to dispose of the same. Considering that the total stock of products is approximately 4,000 pieces, amounting to Rs. 1.2 crores, time is granted till 15th November, 2023 for the Defendants to dispose of the existing stocks in their custody. It is, however, made clear that there shall be no fresh manufacture of the products under the impugned mark. After the said date, none of the products under the mark ‘RALLIES’ shall be made available in the physical stores or on the e-commerce platforms. The Defendants shall also shut down their website i.e., www.ralliesbikes.com within one week from today."
The bench further noted that the matter will now be heard by the roster bench on December 13.
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