Delhi High Court Dismisses Forgery Case In Toothpaste Trademark Dispute Between Anchor And Colgate

Delhi High Court Dismisses Forgery Case In Toothpaste Trademark Dispute Between Anchor And Colgate

The Delhi High Court has recently dismissed a forgery case filed by Anchor toothpaste against Colgate toothpaste and its office bearers.

Anchor had alleged that Colgate forged trademark registration documents and presented them to the Court.

Justice Amit Sharma quashed the complaint case and the magistrate court's summons order of April 2, 2012.

“Given the aforesaid discussion, CC No. 7/2/09 titled ‘Anchor Health and Beauty Care Pvt Ltd v. KV Vaidyanathan & Ors‘ and the impugned summoning order dated 02.04.2012 passed by the learned Metropolitan Magistrate are set aside and quashed,” the High Court ordered.

Considering that Anchor had also submitted an application under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) before the High Court, containing the same allegations as its complaint before the magistrate, the Court took this into account.

Section 340 CrPC empowers the court to initiate a preliminary inquiry into offenses relating to documents presented as evidence.

Justice Sharma determined that an inquiry under Section 340 of the CrPC, as requested by Anchor, cannot be dissociated from the alleged forgery concerning the documents in question.

“In view of the above, this Court is of the considered opinion that, as alleged by Anchor, in the same course of transaction, two separate offenses have been committed, and for one set of offenses, the complaint of the Court is mandatory, and therefore it is not possible to split them up. In these circumstances, the complaint with regard to other sets of offenses for which no court complaint is required cannot be sustained. The present complaint would not be maintainable, and the learned Metropolitan Magistrate could not have taken cognizance of the said complaint,” the Court held.

Colgate and Anchor have been engaged in legal battles regarding the use of red and white trademarks for their toothpaste.

According to Anchor's assertion, following the rejection of Colgate's request for an interim injunction, Colgate allegedly forged certain documents and subsequently filed a suit, claiming a fresh cause of action.

Anchor lodged a complaint against Colgate and its office bearers before the trial court, alleging offenses under Sections 191, 193, 196, 199, 200, and 209 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), pertaining to the forgery of documents and making false claims before the Court.

Allegations were made that the company and its office-bearers colluded to present a forged and fabricated copy of the certificate of registration number and its duplicate for use in legal proceedings before the Delhi High Court.

The magistrate issued summons to Colgate and others after prima facie determining that the copy of the certificate of trademark registration and the certified copy for legal proceedings were forged.

However, the High Court disagreed with the trial court's determination and dismissed the case.