Authored By – Makrand
When it comes to protecting intellectual property rights against a person whose whereabouts are unknown, a legal remedial course of action is taken, which is known as a ‘John Doe order’. The recent case titled, ‘Allied Blenders and Distillers Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Ashok Kumar’ happens to be the latest in series of such orders that have been recently passed by venerable courts of the country. In India, John Doe order is also known as “Ashok Kumar order”.
Allied Blenders and Distillers Pvt. Ltd. (Allied Blenders), is the registered proprietor of the mark “Officer’s Choice” since 1988. The trademark “Officer’s Choice” has been recognized as a ‘well-known mark’ by the Hon’ble Delhi High Court vide judgment dated 16th January, 2017 in, ‘Allied Blenders and Distillers Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Surya Rao Trading as Leo Foods & Beverages.’
Allied Blenders contended that on 9th February 2022, its representative came across a page on Facebook having URL- https://www.facebook.com/officerchoice1. The impugned webpage depicted obscene, vulgar and derogatory social media posts and had dishonestly adopted the mark “ ”, the image “ ”, the name “Officer’s Choice” and the description “@officerchoice1. Wine/Spirits”. It was prima facie evident that this Facebook page was made to malign the image of the brand, “OFFICER’S CHOICE” and to dilute its trademark.
After hearing the contentions of Allied Blenders, and perusing the webpage, The Court held that the Allied Blenders’ have been successful in satisfying all the three pre-requisites for grant of an ex-parte interim injunction. The Court held that if the defendant is not restrained and an injunction is not granted, Allied Blenders is likely to suffer irreparable harm and injury and posting of such content would indeed dilute its trade mark
Hence, the Court ordered the unknown Defendant to immediately take down the impugned webpage and restrained him/her/it from using Allied Blenders’ trademarks. The Court also directed the Facebook’s Grievance Officer to take down the impugned webpage and to provide all necessary details about the unknown Defendant to Allied Blenders.