Bolt Technology OU vs. Ujoy Technology Private Limited and Ors. (29.08.2022 – DELHC) : MANU/DE/3151/2022;
Hon’ble Judges/Coram: Prathiba M. Singh, J.

Case Note:
👉🏻 The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi while adjudicating upon an application filed on behalf of Bolt Technology seeking exemption from instituting pre-litigation mediation, has held that pre-litigation mediation is not mandatory in Intellectual Property cases wherein urgent interim relief has been sought.

👉🏻 The present suit was instituted by Bolt Technology (hereinafter the “Plaintiff”) seeking permanent injunction against Ujoy Technology (hereinafter the “Defendant”) for allegedly using the identical mark ‘BOLT’ along with the logo, in relation to an identical business of charging points for electric vehicles.

👉🏻The Plaintiff further filed an application seeking exemption from instituting pre-litigation mediation, in accordance with Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015.

👉🏻 The Court, while recognizing the nature of dispute and the urgency of relief observed that “as per the experience seen in intellectual property cases, the relief of interim injunction, including at the ex-parte stage and ad-interim stage, is extremely important.

👉🏻Such matters do not merely involve the interest of the Plaintiff and the Defendants, which are the contesting parties before the Court, but also involve the interest of the customers/consumers of products and services in question.

👉🏻Intellectual property cases relate to a wide gamut of businesses such as – medicines, FMCG, food products, financial services, technology, creative works such as books, films, music, etc. Recent trends also point towards large scale misuse on the internet.

👉🏻In some cases, due to misuse of known marks and brands, the consumers are being duped into parting with large sums of money. The rights of the parties are affected almost on a daily basis as there is continuous manufacturing, selling, and offering of services or goods to the customers.

👉🏻 The ambit of urgent interim relief that may be required to be granted is extremely varied and depends on the facts of each case. Such reliefs are usually granted by Courts not merely for protection of statutory and common law rights, but also in order to avoid confusion, deception, unfair and fraudulent practices, etc., in the marketplace”.

👉🏻 The Court also held that it was evident from the conduct of the Defendant that it was in no way interested in an amicable resolution of the dispute. Instead, the hand of mediation which was lent by the Plaintiff was met with a tight slap.

👉🏻Thus, the Defendant cannot place reliance on Section 12 of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, when its own conduct was in fact not in the spirit of any amicable resolution.