Chambers of Ishaan Garg
Ch. No. 217, Western Wing, District & Sessions Court, Tis Hazari, New Delhi, Delhi 110054
+91 8851742417, +91 8800386163
In a design infringement suit by Havells, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday observed that when examining the aspect of design piracy from the point of view of visual appeal, it is the overall impression of the design of the defendant's product, vis-Ã -vis the suit design, that matters.
“…it is the overall shape and configuration which matters. The Court is not supposed to fragment the shape or configuration of the suit design into minor individual elements and start measuring lengths and breadths in order to arrive at a finding regarding imitation/similarity.”
Justice C Hari Shankar further opined that a court is not prohibited from viewing the actual product corresponding to the suit design when examining the aspect of piracy, as the idea is to consider the suit design as applied to an article, not in abstract. This, however, is subject to there being no dispute that the product produced in court corresponds to the design registration.
“…pictorial or photographic depictions may not, in every case, enable the Court to arrive at a correct visual impression of the suit design”.
The suit had been filed by Havells alleging infringement by defendant/Polycab of 3 of its registered designs pertaining to ceiling fans. The models underlying these registrations were ENTICER (2016), BIANCA ART (2021) and BIANCA ART-SANGANER (2022).
Havells sought inter-alia a decree of permanent injunction against Polycab's ELANZA and ELEGANZ PLUS range of fans, which allegedly infringed its 2016, 2021 and 2022 suit designs. Polycab, on the other hand, sought vacation of the interim order granted earlier in favor of Havells.
BIANCA ART-SANGANER range. Accordingly, allegation of design piracy against Polycab's ELEGANZ PLUS range, of the 2022 suit design, failed.
The end result was that the interim order passed earlier was maintained by the court w.r.t. Polycab's ELANZA range vis-Ã -vis Havells' 2016 suit design. However, insofar as it had been granted w.r.t. Polycab's ELANZA PLUS range, vis-Ã -vis Havells' 2021 and 2022 suit designs, the order was vacated.
Case Title: Havells India Limited v. Polycab India Limited 2023 Del HC
