In an order pronounced today, the Delhi High Court had vacated an e-parte interim injunction granted in August 2019, on account of material suppression of facts by the Plaintiffs, Kent RO Systems and its Managing Director. The Court observed that if the relevant facts were disclosed by the Plaintiffs, the Court would not have granted the ex-parte injunction and held that Concealment of material facts and documents is a serious matter and sufficient for disqualifying a litigant from obtaining relief.

Referring to the relevant portions of the co-existence agreement, the Court also observed that the Draft Agreement, which emanates from the plaintiffs, when supplemented by the correspondence exchanged between the parties, clearly reflects the intent of the plaintiffs to share the use of the mark ‘KENT’ with the defendants in respect of different goods. Furthermore, the plaintiffs did not have any issues with the defendants using the mark ‘KENT’ till the year 2018 as both the plaintiffs and the defendants were using the aforesaid mark in respect of different goods. It was only in the year 2018, when the plaintiffs decided to launch products in the field of kitchen appliances, that the user of ‘KENT’ mark by the defendants became problematic. The Court agreed with Defendants’ submissions that the Plaintiffs have acquiesced to the use of the mark, KENT by the Defendants and hence are estopped from claiming to the contrary. Upon a careful consideration of the facts, the Court observed that the balance of convenience lies in favour of the Defendants and hence, vacated the injunction order.

The Court also came heavily on the Plaintiffs for concealment of facts and has imposed a cost of INR 2,00,0000/- on them.

The Defendants are represented by L&L Partners, led by Mr.Subhash Bhutoria, Partner Designate, assisted by lawyers, Mr. Sunil Nair, Mr. Amit Panigrahi and Ms. Trushita Mehra. The Plaintiffs are represented by Ms. Rajeshwari H.