No ‘mini trial’ at interim injunction stage

By Omesh Puri, LexOrbis

3 April 2019

3367

The division bench of Delhi High Court, in its judgment dated 24 January 2019, upheld the single judge’s order refusing interim injunctions against the use of similar designs of Crocs footwear.

Various suits were filed by Crocs (the plaintiff) for infringement of its registered designs (No.197685 and No.197686) against several defendants. Earlier, the single judge had granted ex parte ad interim injunctions, and subsequently defendants challenged the proceedings and also applied for the vacation of ex parte orders.

Omesh Puri and Dheeraj Kapoor LexOrbis — **Omesh Puri**
Associate partner
LexOrbis

The defendants argued that there cannot be an infringement of a registered design if the registration granted to the plaintiff with respect to the footwear itself was an invalid registration. It was argued that the plaintiff’s registered design at the time of registration was not a new or original design, and there existed prior publication of a registered design. In support of this, the plaintiff submitted web shots from an internet archive.

Omesh Puri is an associate partner at LexOrbis.