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2022 (8) TMI 1495 - DELHI HIGH COURTSeeking exemption from instituting pre-litigation mediation, in accordance with Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 - seeking permanent injunction restraining the Defendants, passing off of trademark, infringement of copyright, unfair competition, rendition of accounts, damages, and other reliefs - It is the case of the Plaintiff that the Defendants are using the identical mark 'BOLT', along with the logo thereof, in relation to an identical business of provision of charging points for EVs - HELD THAT:- As per the experience seen in intellectual property cases, the relief of interim injunction, including at the ex-parte stage and ad-interim stage, is extremely important. Such matters do not merely involve the interest of the Plaintiff and the Defendants, which are the contesting parties before the Court, but also involve the interest of the customers/consumers of the products and services in question. Intellectual property cases relate to a wide gamut of businesses such as-medicines, FMCG, food products, financial services, technology, creative works such as books, films, music, etc. Recent trends also point towards large scale misuse on the internet. In some cases, due to misuse of known marks and brands, the consumers are being duped into parting with large sums of money. The Plaintiff claims to be a globally renowned company using the mark 'BOLT' along with the logo thereof, for its services being provided globally. The mobile application of the Plaintiff is available for downloading in India and it is nigh possible that the persons travelling from India, who may have downloaded the Plaintiff's mobile application in India itself, may be using the Plaintiffs services internationally. The Defendants are using an identical mark 'BOLT' in an identical colour scheme and have made their mobile application continuously available, both on Google Play Store, as also, on Apple App Store. The consumers and mobile users can download the Plaintiff's mobile application, as also, the Defendants' mobile application, almost on a minute-to-minute basis. Thus, this Court is of the opinion that the Plaintiff would be entitled to seek urgent interim relief in the present case. However, it is made clear that the question as to whether the interim relief, as sought in the present suit ought to be granted or not, is a question on merits and is not being gone into in the present application. The Defendants were in no way interested in an amicable resolution of the dispute. Instead, the hand of mediation which was lent by the Plaintiff was met with a tight slap. The Defendant's conduct clearly is not in the spirit of any amicable resolution-let alone mediation. Hence, the requirement of Section 12A of the CCA duly stands satisfied on both counts, in the following manner: i. Firstly, the Plaintiff had attempted an amicable resolution which was clearly refuted, rejected and condemned by the Defendants; and ii. Secondly, the Plaintiff has also sought urgent interim relief before this Court and is entitled to maintain the present suit. The preliminary objection raised by the Defendants is, thus, liable to be rejected, along with payment of costs of Rs. 10,000/-. Let the said costs be paid by the Defendants to the Plaintiff, within one week - application disposed off.
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