Hindustan Lever Ltd. v. Briju Chhabra

Hindustan Lever Ltd. v. Briju Chhabra

CS(OS) 2345 of 2000

Key Words: parallel import, exhaustion principle, trade mark

Facts:

Here, the plaintiff HLL was the registered proprietor of the trade mark LUX and LUX label in respect of toilet soaps within India. Unilever, PLC is the principal company and registered proprietor of the trade mark LUX worldwide. The defendant in this case imported into India LUX soaps manufactured in Indonesia without any license, permission or authorization from HLL. The product so imported also expressly indicated that the product was for sale in Indonesia only.

HLL argued that such parallel import by defendant of LUX soaps from Indonesia amounted to infringement of its statutory and common law rights on LUX in India. It was also argued that the fact of such imported product being genuine was of no relevance as any shortcomings in the grey goods would be attributed to HLL. The plaintiff argued misrepresentation on the part of the defendant. It was also argued that if the territorial demarcation is not respected, HLL in India would have to suffer huge losses by way of reduced sales of its goods.

Held

The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi agreed with the submissions of the plaintiff and defendant was restrained from indulging in any further acts of parallel import.