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Informist, Tuesday, Jul. 1, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – A division bench of the Delhi High Court Tuesday revived a passing-off suit filed by Crocs, Inc., USA, against Bata India Ltd., Liberty Shoes Ltd., and others for allegedly manufacturing and selling footwear identical in appearance to the American company's trade dress. The division bench set aside a single judge's 2019 order that had dismissed the Crocs suit as non-maintainable.

 

The division bench said passing off is a "sui generis common law remedy” aimed at protecting one's hard-earned goodwill and reputation from others who may deceitfully seek to capitalise on it. "Passing off" in trademark law refers to the act of one party misrepresenting its goods or services as those of another, leading to consumer confusion and potential harm to the other party's reputation and business.

 

The bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Ajay Digpaul said the petitioner company would have to be given an opportunity to establish that its claim of passing off is not based merely on copying, or imitation, of its registered design by the respondents. "We do not think that this issue could have straightaway been decided by a mere reading of the plaint," the division bench said.

 

Crocs was the proprietor of the design in respect of its footwear in 2004. However, the company did not possess any registration of the given trade dress as a trademark under the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

 

The defendants' adoption of the trade dress in respect of identical goods was dishonest, mala fide and fraudulent, the petitioner company said. The defendants, besides adoption of the trade dress, had also blatantly copied the essential and striking features of its design, Crocs said, adding that their mala fides and dishonesty were "apparent, manifest and striking". The defendants were misguiding people that their goods were coming from the plaintiff, Crocs said.

 

Tuesday, shares of Bata India ended 0.9% higher at INR 1,232.00 on the National Stock Exchange, while the shares of Liberty Shoes ended 0.8% lower at INR 400.65.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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