Delhi HC restrains parties from using name similar to Adidas
This story was originally published at 18:27 IST on 22 July 2024
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NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court has restrained Adidas Weaving Mills, Adidas Textile Industries, and Adidas Merchandise Pvt Ltd from manufacturing, trading, selling or dealing in textile goods in any way under the name "ADIDAS" or any other similar names, and said that a permanent injunction can be given in favour of petitioner Adidas AG.
However, the court rejected Adidas' claim of damages amounting to 2 mln rupees. It said that Adidas was entitled to nominal damages of 300,000 rupees as the opposite parties had abstained from participating in the court proceedings. Further, the court said that Adidas was entitled to costs of litigation amounting to 1.2 mln rupees.
The high court was hearing a trademark infringement suit by Adidas, manufacturer and distributor of sports accessories and apparel under the trademark "ADIDAS". The petitioner said that the name "ADIDAS" was formed by the founder of its company Adolf Dassler by combining his name "Ad" with the first three letters of his surname "Das". The petitioner said that the sales figures of its products in India amounted to 3.36 bln rupees in 2009.
The petitioner had said that the opposite parties, in bad faith, with dishonest intent, started using an identical term "ADIDAS" for their textile business. The directors of Adidas Weaving Mills and other parties said that the rationale for choosing a name identical to that of the petitioner was rooted in personal affection. From childhood, one of the directors, Keshav H. Tulsiani, held deep admiration for his elder sister, addressed as "ADI" in the Sindhi community. This admiration was so profound that Tulsiani was commonly described as her devotee "Das" in Sindhi. Consequently, the term "ADIDAS", which meant devotee of elder sister, was conceived, combining "ADI" and "DAS", to reflect this familial devotion, said Tulsiani. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Ashish Shirke
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