Court dismisses trademark suit with the help of poems and verses from the Gita

District Judge (Commercial Court) Man Mohan Singh passed the order on December 1, after TTK Prestige Ltd, known for manufacturing kitchen appliances, dragged an online retail platform to court for selling its products without consent.

The Delhi Court recently while dismissing a trademark infringement suit quoted a couple of poems and a verse from the Bhagavad Gita in a judgment of passing off wherein TTK, known for manufacturing kitchen appliances, dragged an online retail platform to court for selling its products without consent [TTK Prestige Ltd v. Hiveloop Technology Private Ltd]. The provision of Summary Judgment gives a party a right to get a claim in its favour without going through the process of recording oral evidence. The court noted that it is an “effective tool for deciding cases where a trial is unnecessary”.

Explaining why it was decided the suit in favour of Hiveloop Technology Private, the defendant in the case, without ordering a trial, the court observed that it was the “duty of the court to show an exit door to a litigation without following the entire ritual of trial if the same can be done within four corners of the law”. Quoting a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, it said that while the task of considering a case or a claim for Summary Judgment, “logic for an action must be known, so also the logic for inaction and that the logic for a prohibited action must also be known, therefore the practice of ‘karma’ is profound”.

The translation of verse was: “The logic for action must be known, so also the logic for inaction and that the logic for a prohibited action must also be known, therefore the practice of ‘karma’ is profound.” (कररणण हपप बणदवयय, बणदवयय च पवकररण:|अकररणशच बणदवयय गहनन कर रणण गपत:||) It was recited to show the importance of weighing and evaluating a host of factors in a summary judgment.

The court said that this situation could be best illustrated by quoting a poem from Shel Silverstein, which read: “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out! She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans… From New York to the Golden Gate. And there, in the garbage she did hate, poor Sarah met an awful fate, that I cannot now relate because the hour is much too late. But children, remember Sarah Stout and always take the garbage out!”

While deciding there was no compelling reason to proceed with a trial, the court relied on the poem “One Times One Is Eight” by another 20th-century American poet, Ogden Nash.

The judgment quoted the relevant extracts:

“Either old magic or new math

Into our house has beat a path

How else could Einstein or Diogenes

Explain an exploit of our progeny’s?

While at the table with his ilk

A child upsets a glass of milk.

The glass held half a pint when filled

And half a gallon when it spilled.”

This was written by Anshika Tiwari during her internship with MikeLegal

References-

1.  https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/delhi-court-poems-verse-bhagavad-gita-ttk-trademark-infringement-case
2. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/court-quotes-poetry-bhagavad-gita-dismisses-trademark-suit-7661494/
3. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-delhi-court-judgment-ogden-nash-gita-7662532/