The Delhi High Court on Monday referred a dispute between electronics giants Crompton Greaves and Orient Electric over the use of the trademark ‘Stylus’ for their fans to mediation..Justice Mini Pushkarna issued summons and directed Orient to file a response to the suit. The Court will hear the case only if the mediation fails..Crompton argued that it obtained registration for the marks ‘Stylus’, ‘Stylus Glo’, ‘Stylus SX’ , ‘Stylus DX’ and ‘Stylus Ara’ in 2007 and had been using the same since 2002. It alleged that Orient adopted the same mark for their products including pedestal and ceiling fans. It was further argued that while Orient tried to obtain registration for this mark on a ‘proposed to be used’ basis in 2024, Crompton has opposed the same. .Orient argued that they have been using ‘Stylus Pedestal’ and ‘Stylus Wall’ since 2020, while Crompton introduced its Stylus fans only in 2023. According to Malhotra, though Crompton obtained registration for ‘Stylus’ they have not been using the same for their fans, and Orient is the first to use ‘Stylus’ for fans, while the former used it for its light products. He thus contended that Crompton does not deserve any interim protection..The bone of contention is registration under Class 11, which includes appliances and devices related to lighting, heating, cooling, cooking and water supply. It covers items such as lamps, LED lights, heaters, air conditioners, ovens, microwaves, stoves, refrigerators, water heaters, showers, sinks, exhaust fans, air purifiers and solar-powered devices like solar water heaters and lights. However, it does not include industrial machines, scientific instruments, or electrical components unrelated to these functions.The Court, on hearing the parties, observed that the dispute must first be referred to mediation considering the key players involved..Crompton was represented by Advocate Hemant Daswani.Orient was represented by Senior Advocate Abhishek Malhotra with Partners Angad Singh Dugal, Govind Singh Grewal and Associates Shubham Niwas and Pranav Chadha from Dugal Grewal & Partners.
