• Litigation
• 3 min read

Delhi HC Grants Interim Injunction Against Counterfeit Crompton Products, Appoints Local Commissioners for Inspection

Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals (plaintiff) is a publicly listed company duly incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, with its registered office in Mumbai.

• ETLegalWorld

• Published On Apr 3, 2026 at 03:18 PM IST

The Delhi High Court has passed a John Doe order, thereby granting significant interim relief in favour of Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited in a trademark infringement and counterfeiting action titled Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited v. S.D. Electronics & Ors., pending before the Court, according to an order reviewed by ETLegalWorld.

A single-judge bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted, "the plaintiff has been in continuous and extensive use of the mark 'CROMPTON' in respect of the class of goods it manufactures, and on account of its immense and insurmountable reputation and goodwill carried over the last many decades, was declared as a well-known trade mark."

Advt Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals (plaintiff) is a publicly listed company duly incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, with its registered office in Mumbai.

According to the court order, the defendants in this case were manufacturing and selling infringing wires and cables under the "CROMPTON" mark with a deceptive trading name "Crompton Cable Ind. (Delhi)." The defendants' products were simultaneously being promoted and sold through e-commerce platforms including IndiaMART, YouTube, and Instagram, with unknown entities also involved in distribution.

Justice Gedela observed that the marks used by the defendants were "phonetically, visually, structurally and conceptually identical" to Crompton's well-known mark, making consumer confusion inevitable.

The bench emphasised that "Undoubtedly, the trade channels are common. So is the consumer base. It cannot be lost sight of the fact that the kind of consumer who would purchase these infringing goods would not enter into a detailed enquiry as to whether these infringing products are genuinely those of the plaintiff or not. The plaintiff is most likely to suffer on a financial account too."

The court emphasised that unsophisticated consumers purchasing electrical goods would likely be misled into believing the counterfeit products either originated from Crompton or were manufactured under a valid license.

Advt The court found Crompton Greaves to have established a dominant market position and considerable brand equity. The company reported turnover of INR 6,951.30 crores during FY 2024-25 and has spent progressively higher amounts on advertising and promotion, reaching INR 256.05 crores in FY 2024-25 across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

The court noted that Crompton holds approximately 195 registered trademarks and has received numerous awards and accolades. The company serves over 10 crore households across India and maintains a significant presence on social media and e-commerce platforms.

The bench held that the plaintiff had made out a prima facie strong case in its favour. "Having regard to the number of registrations, sales figures, the promotion expense figures, the presence in the media and the fact that 'CROMPTON' is a well-known trade mark tilts the balance of convenience in favour of the plaintiff," the bench noted.

"Plaintiff is rightly [to suffer] irreparable loss and injury which may not be adequately compensated in monetary terms in case ex-parte ad-interim orders are not passed against the defendants," the bench further noted.

The Court has combined the dynamic injunction with a John Doe-type offline search and seizure mechanism, authorising Local Commissioners to conduct inspections and seizures at locations and against parties that were not originally identified in the suit but are discovered during the investigation.

The order is currently unavailable on the Delhi High Court's website. The bench stated in its order that the court order "shall not be uploaded on the Court's website till the execution of the commission is completed within the given timeline, so as to enable its effective execution."

Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited was represented by Ankit Sahni, Kritika Sahni, Chirag Ahluwalia, and Mohit Maru of Ajay Sahni & Associates.