The trademark ‘Evening Moments’ is confusingly similar to the trademark Magic Moments: HC

In a trademark dilution claim against the “EVENING MOMENT” trademark as being confusingly similar to its trademark registration, the Delhi High Court granted an ad-interim injunction in favor of the maker of a liquor name “MAGIC MOMENTS.”
The petition was brought by Radico Khaitan Ltd., one of India’s top manufacturers and suppliers of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), with MAGIC MOMENTS as one of the leading products garnering significant revenue, was granted by Justice Pratibha M. Singh’s of the single-judge bench.
The plaintiff-complaint applicant was that the defendant is the owner of the contested trademark ‘EVENING MOMENT’ in Class 33 for alcoholic beverages, notwithstanding the fact that the mark is being filed on a ‘planned to be using it’ basis.
Plaintiff’s counsel argued that its Defendants also weren’t initially injuncted qua whisky because the Defendants claimed to have been using the trademark for 5 years, despite the registration being in their favor.
The phrase ‘MOMENTS’ is the fundamental and dominating component of Plaintiff’s mark ‘MAGIC MOMENTS,’ he argued. Thus, he argued for a hold on the defendant’s product, claiming that due to the Plaintiff’s high volume of sales and many registrations for the words ‘MOMENTS’ and ‘MAGIC MOMENTS,’ the mark deserves to be protected even qua whisky.
The Court noted at the start that Plaintiff registered the word mark ‘MAGIC MOMENTS’ in 1997, marketed Gin and Vodka products under the trademark ‘MAGIC MOMENTS’ in 2005 and 2006, and has been using the mark extensively, constantly, and in an unbroken way since then. Under the umbrella name ‘MAGIC MOMENTS,’ it released a variety of products.
It was further recognized that the important component of the mark ‘MAGIC MOMENTS,’ which is ‘MOMENTS,’ has been protected against ‘VINTAGE MOMENTS’ by a Single-Judge order in Radico Khaitan Limited v. Vintage Distillers Ltd.
The Court noted that, in the current context, the terms ‘MAGIC MOMENTS’ are an artificial word utilized for Plaintiff’s products, based on the rationale in the foregoing decision as well as other legal precedents.
It concluded that the marks ‘MAGIC MOMENTS’ & ‘EVENING MOMENT’ are confusingly similar because the key element ‘MOMENT’ has been used by the Defendants in its entirety.