Woes for Toyota and trademark owners

The case of Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha v Prius Auto Industries & Ors has undergone a tumultuous journey since being filed in 2009, and was the first trademark case to be reviewed under a special leave petition at the Supreme Court of India.

This dispute dates to a civil suit filed by Toyota against Prius Auto Industries (PAI) in the Delhi High Court seeking relief for infringement of Toyota’s trademarks ‘Qualis’ and ‘Innova’ and for passing off the trademark ‘Prius’.

The single judge, in July 8, 2016, restrained PAI by a permanent injunction from violating Toyota’s rights in its trademarks ‘Toyota’, ‘Innova’ and ‘Prius’, while recognising ‘Prius’ as a well-known trademark. The judge further held that Toyota was the prior user of ‘Prius’ in other countries and by virtue of its extensive trans-border reputation, ‘Prius’ had acclaimed immense statutory and common-law rights to be granted well-known status in India.