The Delhi High Court in its recent judgement has directed the two traders from Karol Bagh area of Delhi to pay Rs 10 lakh to Christian Louboutin, a french designer for infringing the red sole he uses in the high heel stilettos designed by him.
The suit for permanent injunction was filed by the Christian to restrain the traders from using his trademark red sole or the design which is deceptively similar or identical to his trademark red sole.
It was submitted by the Advocate Pravin Anand, who was appearing on behalf of Christian that the red sole has been recognised as a trademark by the trademark offices all around the world. It was submitted by the advocate that the red sole in a shoe is identified as the product of Christian Louboutin and is different from the goods of the others. It was further submitted that Christian uses a specific tone of red colour and is applied on the shoe outsole.
In the matter it was held by the Justice Mukta Gupta that as per the evidences produced before the court it can be concluded that the red sole is a well known trademark and the plaintiff Christian Louboutin is the registered owner of the trademark. The court further held that the traders from karol bagh are infringing the trademark of the plaintiff.
The trademark of the plaintiff has been declared as the well known trademark of the plaintiff.
To determine the compensation to be paid to Christian Louboutin, judgement of Delhi High Court in the case of Hindustan Unilever Limited vs Reckitt Benckiser India Limited was relied on.
The court noted that the from the sale of the infringing goods the turnover for the both the traders is Rs 2,41,500 and Rs 5,92,350 for 15 months respectively and considering the profit margin on the illegal turnover to be 25%, the profits would be Rs 15,093 and Rs. 1,48,088 respectively.
The court further directed the traders to pay Rs 8,63, 790 for litigation expenses and fee of local commissioner and miscellaneous expenses.
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