James Anderson, in his novel called The Never-Open Desert Diner, said that “Sometimes the smallest things are so damn unforgivable. Maybe because they aren't small—they only seem that way to someone else. You never know what someone holds scared until it's too late.”
This quote is aptly justified in the verdict delivered by Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka in the matter of Greenchef Appliances Limited v, Mercury Appliances India and Other; MFA 4026/2020, on March 19, 2021.
The high court was dealing with an appeal arising out of order dated March 6, 2020, passed by the city civil court in Bengaluru, in a civil suit bearing No. O.S. 235/2019. In 2019, Greenchef Appliances Limited instituted a suit for infringement of its registered design and passing off with respect to its “Mixer Grinder” before the city civil court, Bengaluru. In the first instance, the trial court granted ad-interim ex-parte order of injunction in favour of Greenchef. Aggrieved by the order, the defendants filed an application seeking vacation of the order on various grounds. One of the grounds taken by one of the defendants was that it had a registered design in its favour for its “Mixer Grinder” which, although it was applied for after Greenchef’s date of application, was registered before the grant of registration to Greenchef: