UK company loses war over mattress trademark
Applicant failed to establish that it has a trans-border reputation
Chennai: A UK-based, handmade mattress manufacturing company has lost its battle against a Bengaluru-based spring mattress company over a trademark dispute. The intellectual property appellate board dismissed a petition filed by Hypnos Ltd, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, challenging the trademark used by Peps Industries, Bengaluru. In the petition, Hypnos Ltd submitted that the company was initially started as a family-run business launched in 1926. Subsequently, it was incorporated as a limited company in the United Kingdom. It was known for making uniquely designed, hand-crafted and technologically advanced beds, mattresses, pillows and allied products. The company adopted ‘Hypnos’ as a trademark several decades ago for products including beds and bedding like mattresses and pillows.
The advertisement about the products were widely published and its customers also include royal palaces and estates, luxury and boutique hotels, cruise liners, spas, serviced apartments, prestigious clubs, star hotels and hotel chains the world over. Due to its superior quality, extensive and continuous use, the trademark, ‘Hypnos’ had acquired factual distinctiveness and became inextricably linked with the products of the company. An application for registering the trademark in India is pending before the registrar of trademarks, Kolkata.
The firm entered into an agreement with Shri Balaji Industries Private Limited to manufacture and market Hypnos beds in India. Hosur Coir Foam Pvt. Ltd., Hosur, Tamil Nadu and Peps Industries Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru, which adopted the Hypnos trademark, filed a petition against Hypnos, UK, and its agent before a court in Bengaluru. The firm sought to cancel the trademark ‘Hypnos’ registered by Peps Industries Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru, (Hosur Coir Foam Pvt Ltd, Hosur, Tamil Nadu).
In its reply, Peps Industries submitted that it is a well-known company incorporated under the Indian Company Act, 1956. It is the proprietor of the registered trademark Hypnos for selling mattresses and other related products. The company had filed an application for registration of the mark Hypnos on March 28, 2007 and since October 16, 2008, has been continuously using the trademark for sleep comfort products.
The bench, comprising chairman, Justice K.N. Basha, and technical member (trademarks) Sanjeev Kumar Chaswal, said the documents submitted by the petitioner do not reflect extensive use or show well-known recognition of the mark among consumers in India or internationally. The applicant had failed to establish that it has a trans-border reputation, and, therefore, dismissed the application.