M/S AWADH OILS PRIVATE LIMITED vs SHRI KAUSHAL GOYAL & ORS.

Judgment text excerpt

$~26 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + FAO (COMM) 318/2025 M/S AWADH OILS PRIVATE LIMITED .....Appellant Through: Mr. Rajul Shrivastav and Ms. Nayan Gupta, Advs. versus SHRI KAUSHAL GOYAL & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Ms. Swathi Sukumar, Sr. Adv. with Ms. Tanzeela Farheen and Ms. Vidhi Jain, Advs. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE OM PRAKASH SHUKLA JUDGMENT (ORAL) % 03.02.2026 C. HARI SHANKAR, J. 1. The appellant instituted CS (Comm) 422/20251 against the respondent before the learned District Judge (Commercial Court)-022, North-West District, Rohini, alleging that the respondents were using trade marks of which “KALA GHODA” was the sole or the prominent part for mustard oil, edible oils and allied products, and were, thereby, passing off their goods as those of the appellant. 2. The appellant has no registration, under Section 23 of the Trade Marks Act, 19993, for the mark KALA GHODA, whether in word or device form. The respondent, on the other hand, is the proprietor of registrations of the mark KALA GHODA, though the appellant has 1 “the suit” hereinafter 2 “the learned Commercial Court” hereinafter 3 “the Act” hereinafter Signature Not Verified FAO (COMM) 318/2025 Digitally Signed By:AJIT Page 1 of 5 KUMAR Signing Date:10.02.2026 18:52:44 filed applications for removal of the said marks from the Register of Trade Marks, under Section 57 of the Act. 3. No proceeding for infringement lies against a registered trade mark, as the very definition of infringement, in Section 29 of the Act, envisages the infringer being neither the proprietor, nor the permissive user, of the infringing trade mark. This position also stands settled by various judicial pronouncements, including S. Syed Mohideen v. P. Sulochana Bai4. 4. The suit, ther