The Bombay High Court in the matter of Pidilite Industries Limited Vs. Jubilant Agri & Consumer Products Limited granted protection to Pidilite Industries Limited concerning its trademark “FEVICOL MARINE” pending registration under the Trademark Application No: 1918007 and per refused to give any relief to Jubilant. Jivanjor vs Fevicol.

Pidilite being Plaintiff in the matter had claimed that MARINE was part of the registered trademark “FEVICOL MARINE”, which was the subject of trademarks pending registration with the office of the Registrar of  Trademarks.

Case of the Plaintiff:

Defendant contended that the Pidilite’s trademark is ‘FEVICOL MARINE’ and its (Jubilant) mark is ‘JIVANJOR MARINE PLUS’ and that both Plaintiff and Defendant are using the word ‘MARINE’ descriptively.

The key defense and submission of the Defendant were that the word ‘MARINE’ is inherently descriptive, is devoid of any distinctive character, is incapable of being registered as a trademark, and therefore cannot be claimed to be a trademark of the Pidilite even though it forms part of the registered trademark/label mark ‘FEVICOL MARINE’.

The counsel for the Plaintiff contended that when comparing two marks (a registered mark and the offending/impugned mark) in an infringement action, the Court will compare the offending/impugned mark with the prominent and essential features of the registered marks and that the Court is not required only to compare the single most prominent feature of the registered mark.