The Delhi High Court has restrained mobile and laptop manufacturing company Asus Technology from using the terms ‘Zen’, ‘Zenfone’ and other similar terms while selling the products. The plaintiff, Telecare Network India Pvt Ltd has contended of incorrect adoption of an identical trademark ‘Zenfone’ that is deceptively similar to the plaintiff’s trademark ‘Zen’ and ‘Zen Mobile’.
The single bench comprising of Justice Manmohan observed that the rationale behind recognition and protection of trademarks and tradenames was to ensure people to not get confused about the source of goods and services. The Court further stated that the argument of defendant regarding ‘Zen’ being a generic term of Buddhism was inapplicable to the current case. ‘Zen’ as a generic mark has no connection or correlation with mobile phones or tablets.
The defendant further had argued regarding jurisdiction of the Court. The defendant had already filed an application for cancellation of plaintiff’s registered trademark that was pending in the Intellectual Property Appellate Board. However, the Court rejected the above contention stating that mere pending of cancellation proceedings could not be considered as a bar against Court for exercising its jurisdiction.
Therefore, the Court has restrained Asus to be directly or indirectly involved in any activity related to selling, offering and advertising for sale of mobile phones, mobile accessories or any other related products that has the trademark ‘Zen’, ‘Zenfone’ or any other trademark identical to the plaintiff’s trademark.
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