Hawkins Cookers Ltd. Vs. Murugan Enterprises Case Summary|| Case study|| Exception to Infringement

Facts

The appellant-plaintiff (Hawkins Cookers Ltd.) instituted a suit alleging that the use of the words "Suitable for Hawkins Cookers" on the packet of gaskets manufactured and traded by the defendant-respondent (Ms. Murugan Enterprises) was infringing their registered trademark "Hawkins".
The defendant claimed protection under S.30(2)(d) which allows the use of a registered trademark in certain situations.
The plaintiff contended that it is not reasonably necessary to indicate that the gasket is adaptable to the cookers manufactured by the appellant as the gasket can be used for every cooker of the same size manufactured by any manufacturer.
The single-judge bench of this Court favoured the defendant by assuming that the respondent was manufacturing gaskets specifically for special sizes of pressure cookers manufactured by the appellant.

S.30 provides for certain situations where the use of a registered trademark by a person other than the owner shall not be considered as infringing the registered trademark.
The situation under clause (d) of sub-section (2) of section 30 is that the registered trademark is being used to indicate goods that form a part of or are an accessory to other goods for which the trademark is registered. Here the indication must be a reasonable necessity.
"Reasonable necessary" means inherent in the situation it would be just. For the purpose of this section, it means that the goods claimed to be adaptable are specifically manufactured to be used as a part of the other goods for which the trademark is registered.
In the present case, the respondent's goods (gasket) were not specifically manufactured as a part of the appellant's goods (pressure cooker). The gaskets manufactured by the respondent can be used as an accessory to any pressure cooker irrespective of the manufacturers.