S.J. Kathawalla, J.:— The Plaintiff seeks to move without notice for a limited relief for the reasons set out in paragraph 26 of the plaint and paragraph 3 of the Affidavit in support of Notice Motion. The Plaintiff has filed the present suit seeking protection against the Defendant who according to the Plaintiff is issuing groundless threats to the Plaintiff inter-alia for stopping the use of the trade mark/label/name/domain name HOTEL MILLENNIUM PARK//www.millenniumparkpanchgani.com in India.
2. Mr. Hiren Kamod, Ld. Advocate appearing for the Plaintiff seeks a limited ad-interim relief today that the Defendant should give at least 7 days prior written notice to the Plaintiff at the address mentioned in cause title of the plaint before initiating any proceedings (including legal proceedings in any court in the nature of legal proceedings claiming infringement and/or the tort of passing off) or claiming any interim or ad-interim reliefs against the Plaintiff as threatened in the letters issued on behalf of the Defendant against the Plaintiff's use of HOTEL MILLENNIUM PARK/ and/or the said website/domain name www.millenniumparkpanchgani.com.
3. According to the Plaintiff, the Plaintiff has been running a hotel named as “Hotel Millennium Park” (“said hotel”) which is located at Panchagani, Mahabaleshwar in India and/or using its trademark/name/label HOTEL MILLENNIUM PARK and/or openly, regularly, continuously, extensively and uninterruptedly since at least the year 2001. It is stated that the Plaintiff has a dedicated website www.millenniumparkpanchgani.com which was created and/or has been operational since August 2004.
4. My attention is drawn to the plaint, Exhibits therein and in particular, paragraph 26 of the plaint. Mr. Kamod submitted that the Plaintiff has received letters dated 4 April 2014, 3 December 2014, 13 August 2018 and 12 September 2018 from the Defendant and the Plaintiff has replied to the same by its letters dated 15 April 2014 and 1 October 2018. It is submitted that the Plaintiff has also filed rectification applications against the Defendant's several registered trade marks. It is submitted that Defendant is issuing unjustified and groundless threats within the meaning of Section 142 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 to the Plaintiff inter-alia for stopping the use of Hotel Millennium Park/website/domain name www.millenniumparkpanchgani.com. It is submitted that if the notice of this application is given to the Defendant, the Defendant might initiate proceedings in any court in India, on the basis of the Plaintiff's website, claiming infringement and/or the tort of passing off and try to obtain ex-parte ad-interim reliefs against the Plaintiff which would cause irreparable harm and injury to the Plaintiff who has been running its hotel since 2001. He submitted that the Plaintiff is therefore praying for a limited relief at this stage.
5. I have heard the submissions made by Mr. Kamod and perused the pleadings and correspondence and in particular the impugned letters issued by the Defendant and Plaintiff's reply thereto. Prima facie, from the documents annexed to the Plaint it appears that the Plaintiff has been openly and continuously using its trade mark/name/label since 2001 and several letters have been exchanged between the Plaintiff and Defendant between the period 2014 and 2018. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and considering the limited nature of relief sought by the Plaintiff today, I believe that no harm would be caused to the Defendant if the same is granted. In view of what is stated in paragraph 26 of the plaint and paragraph 3 of the Affidavit in support of Notice Motion, there shall be limited ad-interim order in terms of prayer clause (a) of the Notice of Motion, which reads as follows:
a. that pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit, the Defendant, its directors, proprietors, partners, owners, servants, subordinates, representatives, dealers, agents and all other persons claiming under it be directed by this Hon'ble Court to give atleast 7 days prior written notice to the Plaintiff at the address mentioned in the cause title of the plaint before initiating any proceedings (including legal proceedings in any court in the nature of legal proceedings claiming infringement and/or the tort of passing off) or claiming any interim or ad-interim reliefs against the Plaintiff as threatened in the letters issued on behalf of the Defendant against the Plaintiff's use of HOTEL MILLENNIUM PARK/ and/or the said website/domain name www.millenniumparkpanchgani.com;
6. List the Notice of Motion for further ad-interim reliefs on 1 November 2018.
7. The Plaintiff shall forthwith serve a copy of this order on the Defendant by post and email.
8. Liberty to the Defendant to apply for variation of this order with 48 hours prior written notice to the Plaintiff's Advocates.