Royal Enfield: In a huge relief to iconic and one of the oldest Motorcycle Royal Enfield, Madras High Court has restrained a service centre from using the trademark ‘Royal Enfield’ for selling or advertising its products or from replicating the look and feel of the exterior and interior of the authorized outlets of Royal Enfield.
Justice Abdul Quddhose observed that “Royal Enfield” was a well-known trademark as per the provisions of Section 2(1)(zg) read with Section 11 of the Trade Marks Act 1999.
The court also directed the Registrar of Trademarks to notify “Royal Enfield” in the register of well-known marks.
The order was passed on a plea by Royal Enfield seeking a permanent injunction restraining the defendant, Nitin Service Point from using its identical “Royal Enfield” mark.
The plea has alleged that the service centre was deceiving and confusing the minds of the general public by using the identical Royal Enfield mark.
The court noted that apart from the unique trademarks, Enfield also had a standard pattern for interiors and exteriors for every authorized outlet to give the same look and feel or identity for all its outlets and to enable customers to easily identify their outlets. The court also noted that while appointing dealers, Enfield used to ensure that all dealers maintained the same standards, interiors and exteriors following its Brand Retail Identity.
“The name “ROYAL ENFIELD” is synonymous to the plaintiff and the plaintiff is therefore entitled to the highest level of protection as the public at large associate the name “ROYAL ENFIELD” only with the plaintiff. Therefore, the plaintiff’s trademark falls within the definition of well-known mark within the meaning of Section 2(1)(zg) of the Act and deserves protection, that is conferred to well-known marks under the Trade Marks Act,” the court said while noting that by using similar writing styles and similar glass panelling, the service centre was trying to create confusion and deception in the minds of the general public which amounted to infringement of Enfield’s registered trademark.
