We all have heard of traditional business rivalries in the world where both parties have used negative advertising campaigns against each other. Such negativity has died down especially after a number of fair-trade laws came into existence.
But the foam industry market was rocked recently by some commercials where Master Enterprises’ brands were attacked by their rival, Diamond Industries. In one of the TVCs, the famous Master tagline of Papa Jani was used in a very negative manner. Another uses the word Faulty Foam, much in the way Molty Foam is pronounced.
Fortunately for Master Enterprises, the words Papa Jani and Molty Foam are their registered trademark. In different complaints filed with the Special Intellectual Property Tribunal by their lawyers, Ali & Associates, Master Enterprises pointed out the obvious: Papa Jani is their trademark registered in Classes 17 and 20, while word Molty is also similarly protected in more than 40 classes. In both cases, injunctions were issued.
The case for Papa Jani
Ever since the launch of Master’s Molty Foam mattresses, advertising campaigns featuring a father-daughter interaction about the foam and her calling her father Papa Jani has been recognized by all and sundry as belonging to the M/s Master Enterprises. Not only that, the company had also had the phrase registered as its trademark in Classes 17 and 20. These facts, when the case came up for preliminary hearings before the Special Intellectual Property Tribunal in Lahore, were never challenged by even the Defendant#1, M/s Diamond Industries. So says the injunction order issued by the learned tribunal. It categorically states, “…plaintiff has succeeded to make out a prima facie case and the remaining essential ingredients i.e. balance of convenience and irreparable loss lies in his favor.” The tribunal, therefore, allowed the injunction application and restrained the Defendant#1 including its agents and representatives from using the trademark Papa Jani in their campaigns. It further stopped the defendant from carrying on the misleading and disparaging advertisements this phrase alone or in conjunction with any other word whatsoever till the final decision of the case.
The case for Molty Foam
M/s Master Enterprises have the word Molty registered as a trademark under more than 40 classes. This includes the all-famous Molty Foam. While using the phrase faulty foam, says their plaint, M/s Diamond Industries have flagrantly violated the law and breached the norms of fair and ethical business practices. This is precisely what the Special Intellectual Property Tribunal cited while granting ad interim injunction to all the five defendants including Diamond Industries.
The tribunal in the order stated, “Defendant no. 1 is actively and purposefully marketing its products to the detriment of the plaintiff, causing substantial damage to the plaintiff’s hard-earned goodwill and reputation beside causing severe loss of business opportunity.”
The other defendants included some of Diamond’s authorized dealers as well as a couple of newspapers that carried those advertisements—Daily Ummat and the Business Recorder.
The order was renewed on 16 September 2020 by the same tribunal.
The case for the color identity
On 25 July 2020, the Special Intellectual Property Tribunal issued an interim injunction against M/s Diamond Industries Ltd, stopping the defendant from using the distinguished red color scheme in its advertisement since that particular was identifiable with the legitimate commercial campaign for Molty Foam by the M/s Master Enterprises. This way, a new precedence was also set that even using a color scheme that was misleading for the customers could be considered unethical. It was argued in the case that such a practice would be unfair competition. The court, prima facie, agreed. The ad interim injunction was later renewed on 27 August 2020.
The case for Molty Foam-II
The Sindh High Court, in an order passed on 16 September 2020, ordered M/s Diamond Industries Ltd. and four other defendants including Daily Ummat and Daily Business Recorder to appear before the court on 15 October 2020 and submit answers to the questions relating to the case filed by M/s Master Enterprises about the defendants’ running the commercial campaign for the defendant #1 where the word “Faulty Foam” was being used.
