The Delhi High Court has granted an ex parte ad interim injunction in favour of American innerwear and apparel company Jockey International, directing e-commerce platform Meesho to remove listing of products bearing marks allegedly infringing Jockey’s registered trademarks and restraining several sellers from manufacturing, marketing or offering such products for sale.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Jyoti Singh held on May 29 that Jockey had established a prima facie case for the grant of interim relief in a trademark infringement and passing off action against several entities and unidentified John Doe defendants.
The Court observed that the impugned marks, including “JOYKE”, “JOYEBEE”, “JOYESS” and “JOJOKE”, were prima facie deceptively similar to JOCKEY, the plaintiff’s registered trademark, and were being used in relation to identical goods. It held that since the competing products catered to the same consumer base and were sold through common trade channels, the likelihood of consumer confusion and deception could not be ruled out.
Jockey approached the High Court after discovering in January that undergarments bearing the allegedly infringing marks were being offered for sale on Meesho and other online marketplaces. The company also placed on record the findings of a private investigation, which allegedly revealed that one of the entities marketing the products had initiated proceedings to secure registration of one of the disputed marks.
According to the plaintiff, despite issuing a cease-and-desist notice, the alleged infringers neither responded nor discontinued use of the impugned marks. Jockey further submitted that Meesho declined to delist the offending product listings in the absence of a judicial direction, necessitating the institution of the commercial suit.
After considering the pleadings and documents placed on record, the Court held that Jockey had made out a prima facie case for grant of an ex parte ad interim injunction. It further observed that the balance of convenience lay in favour of the plaintiff and that refusal of interim protection would result in irreparable loss and injury to its statutory trademark rights, goodwill and commercial reputation.
Accordingly, the Court restrained the defendants, including the John Doe entities and all persons acting on their behalf, from manufacturing, marketing, advertising, offering for sale, hosting, listing, displaying, using or otherwise dealing in apparel or related goods bearing the impugned marks or any other mark identical or deceptively similar to Jockey’s registered trademarks, amounting to trademark infringement and passing off.
The Court also issued a mandatory direction to Meesho to block or suspend the URLs identified by the plaintiff hosting the allegedly infringing products within 36 hours of receiving the order.
In addition, Meesho was directed to disclose to the plaintiff the available Know Your Customer (KYC) details of the sellers, including their registered addresses, mobile numbers, UPI details, transaction records and IP logs, within four weeks. The platform has also been directed to file an affidavit of compliance within six weeks.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on September 24.
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