In the case of KHADI & VILLAGE INDUSTRIES COMMISSION v. RAMAN GUPTA AND OTHERS brought by KHADI, the Delhi High Court granted a permanent injunction against KHADI BY HERITAGE, which sells PPE kits, hand sanitizers, and fireballs, noting that there was a "reasonable expectation" that the latter misappropriated the former's trademark to promote its products.
A statutory organization called the Khadi & Village Industries Commission and filed the lawsuit, claiming to be the registered owner of the marks "KHADI" and "Charkha Logos." Additionally, it serves as the website's host for the www.kviconline.gov.in domain, which was registered on July 1st, 2010.
The plaintiff was of the view that the defendants were misappropriating the trading name "KHADI BY HERITAGE," the corporate name, the mark, and the "Charkha Logo" in various ways.
It was claimed that defendants utilised "Charkha Logos" and the trademark "KHADI BY HERITAGE" on their website while making the claim that they were "manufacturers of Organic, Natural & Eco-Friendly Cosmetic and related Products under the name and brand of KHADI BY HERITAGE."
In light of this, the plaintiff argued that, in addition to violating several statutory and common law rights, the use of the trademark "KHADI," particularly in connection with medical items, created serious questions about the quality of those products.
The Court believed that the Defendants' sale of PPE kits, masks, hand sanitizers, fireballs, and other items under the marks "KHADI," "KHADI INDIA," and the "Charkha Logo" would constitute an outright violation of the Plaintiff's rights in those items.
The court determined that the Defendants' use of the mark "KHADI" would violate the Plaintiff's rights in said mark and that, given the nature of the Defendants' products, such use would be extremely harmful to consumers and held that "Accordingly, a decree of permanent injunction is granted, in terms of the reliefs as sought in paragraph 51 (a) and (b) of the Plaint, restraining the Defendants, Defendants' agent, representatives and distributors from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale any goods or services under the impugned mark and logo 'KHADI BY HERITAGE', the KBH logo, as also, any other marks/logos identical or deceptively similar to the Plaintiff's mark 'KHADI' and the 'Charkha logo' in respect of any goods and services, without a license or consent from the Plaintiff."