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21 October 2020CopyrightSarah Morgan

Mattel secures copyright win before Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has ordered e-commerce company Flipkart to remove listings advertising and selling products which violate toymaker Mattel’s copyright in six characters.

Last week, Justice Mukta Gupta handed down the decision, which also granted an interim injunction against the other defendants until the next hearing.

In 2012, Mattel designed a set of cartoon animal characters called ‘Rainforest Family’, which are used on baby items such as rockers and baby play gyms. The products were launched in India in 2018.

In August this year, Mattel applied to register ‘Kick and Play’ as a trademark in India. One month later, the company applied to register the shape mark of its ‘Kick and Play’ baby gym.

Mattel, in addition to accusing the defendants of infringing its copyright in six of the ‘Rainforest Family’ characters, also claimed passing off as the goods because they used the trademark and shape mark.

On October 13, the court held that Mattel had made out a case in favour of an interim injunction against the copyright violations.

“Considering that the plaintiff's copyright granted in [the] US in respect of the six characters of the 'Rainforest Family' would also extend to India in terms of section 40 of the Copyright Act, this court finds that the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case in its favour at this stage for grant of an ex-parte ad-interim injunction qua the copyright violation in relation thereto,” said the Delhi court.

Mattel was told to provide URLs featuring the copyright infringing products within three days, after which Flipkart would need to remove the listings within 48 hours.

However, Mattel didn’t convince the court that it should grant an injunction against the alleged trademark and design infringement. Gupta said the court would need to hear the defendants before ordering an interim injunction.

The court issued summons in the suit and listed the matter for hearing on January 8, 2021.

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