New Delhi, Feb 16 The Delhi High Court on Monday directed actor Deepika Padukone's skincare brand 82 °E not to sell, advertise, or deal in products having trade mark "Lotus Splash" or "Lotus" until a lawsuit against it by Lotus Herbals is decided.
The order was passed by a bench of Justices V Kameswar Rao and Vinod Kumar on a plea by Lotus Herbals Pvt Ltd.
The court held that Lotus Herbals, a personal care company and the owner of the mark "Lotus", was entitled to protection against the use of "Lotus Splash" by DPKA Universal Consumer Ventures Private Limited, the parent company of Padukone's skincare brand 82 °E, for its facial cleanser.
"We find that the trade mark of the respondents '82 °E' is at the base of the bottle as against the mark/phrase 'Lotus Splash', which occupies a more prominent place at the top of the bottle, this surely suggests that the attempt is to make the mark 'Lotus Splash' more prominent than the actual mark of '82 °E'," the court said in its judgement.
"We grant the prayer for temporary injunction and restrain the respondents… from manufacturing, selling, importing, exporting, offering for sale, advertising, directly or indirectly dealing in Cosmetics, Beauty and Hygiene products under the impugned trade mark 'Lotus Splash' or 'Lotus' derivative marks or any other identical and/or deceptively similar trade marks to that of the plaintiffs trade mark being 'Lotus' whether being used independently or with any prefix or suffix till the final disposal of the suit," the court ordered.
Lotus Herbals challenged a single judge order dated January 25, 2024, which rejected its application seeking an interim injunction on the use of 'Lotus Splash'.
The application was part of Lotus Herbals' lawsuit against DPKA Universal Consumer Ventures Private Limited.
