No sale of red & black pocket edition of Constitution: Delhi HC

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has ordered an interim stay on Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd’s red-and-black, coat-pocket edition of the Constitution of India after finding it “prima facie” similar to an existing pocket edition published by Eastern Book Company (EBC).

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora granted the injunction in a suit filed by the EBC, finding that the overall presentation of Rupa’s book risked creating confusion. The HC said the two pocket editions share many design elements, including a near-identical colour scheme, the same text style and font, gilt edging, the book’s posteen colour, and embossed gold detailing, and noted both firms sell to the same segment through overlapping trade channels.

Such close resemblance makes it “prima facie evident” that Rupa’s trade dress or design is “deceptively similar” to that of EBC, the judge said. The EBC supported its claim with a tabular comparison, which the court said demonstrated Rupa had reproduced the layout of the EBC’s product with little or no independent creativity.

The story is written by Prabhat Shukla for The New Indian Express