Levi's Requests Brand Protection in Delhi
San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. has filed a trademark infringement suit and is seeking brand protection from a Delhi, India, court after an Indian retailer was discovered selling imitations of the company’s branded Dockers khakis.
Levi’s spokeswoman Linda Butler said several imitation Dockers were seized after company representatives based in the Far East saw an advertisement for the sale of Dockers brand apparel at a retailer in Ahmedabad, India.
The court-appointed local commission in Delhi seized a large number of khakis bearing the trademark “Dockers” and Wings and Anchor logo from a showroom in Ahmedabad, according to Pravin Anand, Levi’s counsel in India.
“The pants were thoroughly examined and we determined that they were not Dockers but counterfeit products,” said Butler.
Justice Shameet Mukherjee granted an ex-parte injunction preventing retailer Shree Kamdhenu, Mafatlal Family Shop, from manufacturing and selling any pants, jeans or other garments bearing similar marks, logos, words, labels and devices or any other imitations similar to the Levi’s brand.
“The company’s trademarks are seen as being extremely important and valuable assets and we aggressively protect and defend them worldwide,” said Butler. “Our goal is to get these products off the market because they lead to confusion for consumers.”
This is the first civil suit in India by Levi’s since Dockers were introduced to the Indian market in 1986, according to the publication The Press Trust of India Limited. —Claudia Figueroa
