Action was filed in the Commercial High Court of Colombo by DSI through their Attorneys Sudath Perera Associates against the entity Lakpa Footwear Ltd., with its headquarters based in Horana. The action was filed for the infringement of DSI’s ‘Fun Souls’ trademark and brand and the shoe design on the basis of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and passing-off.

D. Samson & Sons Ltd., widely known as DSI, is a leading homegrown brand and manufacturer of footwear, apparel, and bicycle tyres across the country and has established a strong reputation for quality products in Sri Lanka since its inception. In 2016, DSI introduced and developed the brand ‘Fun Souls’ with a youth identity, to offer a range of unique shoes and bags, including infant shoes, toddler shoes, boys’ and girls’ footwear, and accessories. This ‘Fun Souls’ shoe design was an original concept presented by the DSI brand family.

On 1 November, Commercial High Court Judge Jagath A. Kahandagamage issued an enjoining order against the Defendant for engaging in the sale of kids’ footwear with a brand name/design identical or confusingly similar to the ‘Fun Souls’ trademark and the shoe design.

The Plaintiff, DSI, pleaded that the Defendant has copied the mark ‘Fun Souls’ and the design of the shoe belonging to the Plaintiff in a similar manner with the deliberate intention of passing off its products as those of the Plaintiff.

The Plaintiff further pleaded that the slight, insignificant changes in the impugned mark and the design used by the Defendant are unnoticeable to the average consumer and deliberately adopted with the mala fide intention of the Defendant to usurp the goodwill and reputation of the Plaintiff’s ‘Fun Souls’ trademark and the shoe design.

The Commercial High Court, after hearing the submissions of the Lead Counsel for the Plaintiff, issued an enjoining order as requested by the Plaintiff. The order restrains the Defendant from continuing to use or carrying out business using its infringing shoe design, under the name, sign, or mark ‘Fun Shoe,’ which is misleadingly similar to the Plaintiff’s trademark ‘Fun Souls’ and its associated shoe design.

It also prohibits the Defendant from using any other variation of the name, sign, mark, or shoe design that is confusingly similar to the Plaintiff’s trademark or trade name, and from adopting any trade name or trademark that could cause confusion with the Plaintiff’s trademark or trade name.

(ft.lk)

(This story, originally published by ft.lk1st has not been edited by SLM staff)