Toyota is the ‘PRIUS’ User
July 20, 2016
Biswajit Sarkar - IP Law Firm India
Post time: 12:20 pm
The Delhi High Court, decided in favour of automobile giant Toyota in a case against Prius Auto Industries and Prius Auto Accessories Private Limited.
In a 7 year old battle, Toyota contested that Prius Auto Industries had used Toyota’s trademark ‘Prius’. Prius was Toyota’s first hybrid car to be introduced. Toyota also had accused Prius Industries to have sold spare parts under the trade marks Toyota, QUALIS and INNOVA along with the Toyota Logo.
Prius Auto Industries and Prius Auto Accessories Private Limited on the other hand, had in fact registered the trademark, though Toyota had not.
The Court held that, such use of ‘Prius” by Prius Industries was dishonest and ordered them to pay monetary compensation to Toyota worth INR 10Lakh. The court held that Prius Industries had mala fide intention to bank upon the goodwill and reputation of Toyota. The court also commented that Toyota’s first use in 1995 of ‘PRIUS’ was enough to claim prior use over the defendants Indian use since 2002, even though they introduced the car in India only in the year 2010
