Delhi High Court - Orders
Royal County Of Berkshire Polo Club Ltd & ... vs Lifestyle Equities C V & Ors on 16 September, 2020
Author: Hima Kohli
Bench: Hima Kohli, Subramonium Prasad
$~6
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ FAO(OS) (COMM) 168/2019 & CM APPL. 32083/2019
ROYAL COUNTY OF BERKSHIRE POLO CLUB LTD & ORS
.....Appellants
Through: Ms. Anjali Jha Manish, Advocate
versus
LIFESTYLE EQUITIES C V & ORS ....Respondents
Through: Mr. Sai Deepak, Mr. Mohit Goel,
Mr. Aditya Goel, & Mr. Deepankar Mishra,
Advocates
CORAM:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD
ORDER
% 16.09.2020 HEARD THROUGH VIDEO CONFERENCING.
CM APPL. 13670/2020 (on b/o appellant for sale of goods manufactured prior to the order dated 06.05.2019)
1. This application has been moved by the appellant praying inter alia that it be granted permission for sale of the goods manufactured by it prior to passing of the order dated 06.05.2019 by the learned Single Judge, on the stay application moved by the respondent/plaintiff in CS (COMM) 1031/2018 (IA 9511/2018), subject matter of the present appeal.
2. Ms. Anjali Jha Manish, learned counsel for the appellant states that stocks worth Rs 2,31,09,543/- including men's/women's deodorants/perfumes and men's gift sets that were manufactured prior to passing of the impugned order are lying with the appellant and their shelf life is three years. As the said goods were manufactured sometime in May 2018, their shelf life shall be expiring by FAO(OS) (COMM) 168/2019 Page 1 of 3 April/May 2021 and therefore, the appellant may be permitted to sell them in the open market.
3. Mr. Sai Deepak, learned counsel for the respondent strongly opposes the present application and states that the appellant cannot take advantage of its own fault. A misstatement was made on behalf of the appellant before the learned Single Judge on 23.07.2018 that the products of the appellant were registered under Class 3. Due to this statement, no interim order was initially granted to the respondent/plaintiff. Later on, it had transpired that there was no registration under Class 3 in favour of the appellant in respect of the products in question. Learned counsel states that permitting the appellant to sell the said products now, would be putting a premium on its wrong, particularly when the impugned order has yet to be tested by this court.
4. As for the submission made by learned counsel for the appellant that the shelf life of the product in question is likely to expire and in the eventuality the appellant ultimately succeeds in the appeal, the stock would have expired, we may note that in the application, the appellant is dead silent on the date of the manufacture of the subject products, though documents filed along with the application details the number of goods lying with various retailers as also the value of the said stock.
5. In the absence of the relevant information, we are not persuaded to accept the submissions made by learned counsel for the appellant that the shelf life of all the stock in question, which the appellant seeks permission to sell, shall be expiring in April/May 2021. Further, we find from the annexures enclosed with the application that contrary to the submission made by learned counsel for the appellant that the pending stock is available with the appellant, Annexure A3 states that the stock in question is available with the retailers. Moreover, the list of goods in question stated by the appellant fall under Class 3 for which FAO(OS) (COMM) 168/2019 Page 2 of 3 admittedly, it did not possess any trademark registration on the date of their manufacture.
6. In view of the above, we are not inclined to grant any permission to the appellant for sale of the stock, as prayed for. The application is dismissed. If the appellant does move an application for early hearing of the stay application, with the consent of the other side, as per the procedure prescribed in the Circular issued by the High Court, the same shall be considered in accordance with law.
HIMA KOHLI, J.
SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD, J.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2020/kk FAO(OS) (COMM) 168/2019 Page 3 of 3