Court quashes FIR on trademark infringement

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court has quashed the FIR against an automobile parts dealer accused of infringing trademark rights saying that under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the opinion of the registrar of trademark is a must before initiating criminal procedure, and this provision was not followed in this particular case.
In 2013, the store of Rushabh Automobiles’ Mihir Shah was raided by a representative of IPR Vigilance (India) Limited along with a police party on suspicion that Shah sold duplicate spare parts in the name of Hyundai Motor Company.
After seizure from his store, an FIR was lodged against Shah with Naranpura police station under Sections 101, 102, 103, 104, 105 of the Trade Marks Ac and a chargesheet filed in the metropolitan court. The case against him had been pending.
Shah approached the high court for quashing of the criminal proceedings where his lawyer Sachin Vasavada pointed out lacunae in procedures followed by the police.
Justice J C Doshi accepted his contention that Section 115 (4) of the Act clearly mandates that the police officer conducting the search is required to take the registrar of trademark’s opinion on infringement prior to search and seizure. In this case, the cops had not obtained any such opinion.
The court noted that the complainant failed to establish that he had the authority to file a complaint.
The complainant cannot give an opinion about the accused violating the law without taking the registrar's opinion.
The high court also accepted the submission that such a case cannot be investigated by a police officer below the rank of a district superintendent of police. In this case, the Naranpura police inspector carried out the investigation, which was in breach of the law’s statutory provisions.