Gulabari vs. Gulavari: Delhi High Court decides in favour of Dabur India Limited

GULAVARI was bound to cause confusion in the mind of the consumers about the source of the rose water on account of its deceptive similarity to Dabur’s registered trade mark GULABARI

In a suit brought in by Dabur India Limited, Justice Manmohan vide his judgment dated 2nd May 2013 held that GULAVARI was bound to cause confusion in the mind of the consumers about the source of the rose water on account of its deceptive similarity to Dabur’s registered trade mark GULABARI.

The word-mark GULABARI and the label GULABARI are registered under the Trade Mark Act, 1999 and since 1993 have adopted a distinctive colour combination of the shades pink and white for the trade dress of its rose water packaging as well as for the get up of the label used in respect of the product. It was contended by Dabur that the label including its overall colour combination of pink and white and the overall get up including arrangement of features of the label constitutes original artistic work within the meaning of Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957 thereby entitling it to copyright protection under Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

Defendant had allegedly launched its rose water under the name GULVARI, deliberately choosing the trade mark GULVARI as it was deceptively similar to the Plaintiff’s (Dabur) Trade Mark and brazenly copied the distinguishing features of its trade dress to cause confusion and deception amongst consumers. The Court had earlier passed an ex parte injunction against the Defendant and thereafter based on ex parte evidence as well as documents placed on record, it was held that adoption of the Trade Mark GULVARI by the Defendant amounted to infringement of the Trade Mark GULABARI. The possibility of confusion and deception is compounded on account of visual similarity between the trade dress and get up of the defendant’s packaging with those of the Plaintiff predominantly on account of similarity of colour combination of pink, white and silver as well as lay out and arrangement of features including the cap and size of the bottle.