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Informist, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Monday passed an interim injunction order restraining Leayan Global Pvt. Ltd., the footwear division of RSPL group, from using names similar to Bata India Ltd.'s 'Power' trademark for its footwear. The division bench of the high court upheld its single-judge bench's 2019 order that there was a deceptive similarity between Leayan Global's 'Power Flex' mark and Bata India's 'Power' mark. As both the marks were used for goods which were similar, there is also likelihood of confusion, the court added.

 

However, the division bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla refused to restrain Leayan Global from using the tagline 'The Power of Real Leather'. It is clear from the tagline that there is no emphasis on the word 'Power', said the division bench. An average consumer would read and recollect the tagline, as a whole, as emphasising the leather content of the footwear, said the division bench, adding that the consumer is unlikely to link Leayan's product with Bata's 'Power' range of products merely because of the use of the word 'Power' in the tagline.

 

Further, the division bench said that Chawla Boot House, which was a retailer of Leayan Global, could not have been deleted from the list of parties. Even without a trial, or any application under Order I Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the single judge bench ought not to have come to a final conclusion that Chawla Boot House was not a necessary or proper party and its decision is liable to be set aside, said the division bench. 

 

Leayan Global had argued that impleadment of Chawla Boot House as defendant number one in the suit was improper and illegal and engineered with a view to ensure that the matter would not be noticed in the cause list. However, Bata India had said that Leayan and Chawla Boot House were equally guilty of infringement, and neither one could be treated as a lesser defendant than the other.

 

Bata India had argued that the trademark 'Power', both as a word mark and as a device mark, was registered in favour of the company for sports footwear as well as leather goods. Bata India said that it had enormous goodwill in the mark 'Power'. The sale proceeds of goods using the mark 'Power' by Bata for 2018 were to the tune of INR 4.80 billion, which was 20% of the total sales of Bata India. Leayan had contended falsely that it was not using the mark 'Power Flex' independently and it was only using the mark in conjunction with the mark 'Red Chief', said Bata India.

 

Leayan Global had said that 'Power' was a laudatory expression and could not be monopolised. Further, 'Power' was a common dictionary word, over which exclusivity could not be claimed, said Leayan Global. Leayan had commenced use of the mark 'Power Flex' in 2010-11 (Apr-Mar) and cricketer Virat Kohli was its brand ambassador, said the respondent, adding that the suit filed by Bata India, which was instituted only in 2019, was grossly belated. However, the division bench of the court rejected all these arguments of Leayan Global.

 

At 1342 IST, shares of Bata India were down 0.1% at INR 959.10 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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