Delhi High Court grants injunction to DFM Foods for infringement of trademark CURLS

In this case, the plaintiff filed a suit seeking an ex parte injunction to restrain the defendants from infringing the plaintiff’s registered trademark ‘CURLS’ and ‘CRAX CURLS.’ The defendants used an identical/deceptively similar trademark ‘CURLS’ under the brand name Modi’s. They were involved in the manufacture and sale of fyrums and other corn-based snacks, resulting in trademark infringement and passing off their goods as that of the plaintiffs.

The plaintiff, i.e., DFM Foods, introduced CRAX Corn Rings in 1984. Further, they obtained trademark registration for the mark ‘CURLS’ in 2016 and ‘CRAX CURLS’ in 2017. The trademark infringement by the defendants by using the identically similar trademark CURLS came to the plaintiff’s knowledge when their sales representative received information from distributors and stockists about the same. Further, defendant No. 1 had uploaded a photograph of a snack under the mark ‘CURLS’ in July 2020 on Facebook and Instagram. 

The plaintiff has spent enormous money on advertising and promoting their brand name ‘CURLS’ concerning its product under its unique trade dress, used in conjunction with its flagship brand CRAX.

Justice Jayant Nath of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court stated that the defendants were were prima facie infringing the plaintiff’s right by using an identical trademark ‘CURLS’ for somewhat similar products. An ex parte injunction restrained the defendants from using in any manner the trademark ‘CURLS’ or any other mark for its corn-based products or any other products that are deceptively similar to the plaintiff’s registered trademark CURLS until further orders.

Author: Vishishta Mishra, student at UPES, Dehradun

Disclaimer: This brief is intended to provide general guidance to the subject matter. It does not contain legal advice. For any specific advice/corrections, write to [email protected]

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