Coke Studio v. Cook Studio: Trademark Suit Settled In Delhi High Court After Mediation

Nikhil Chawla, a man running a popular online platform called 'COOK STUDIO' engaged in blogging and production of video relating to cooking, has settled a trademark suit filed by him against 'The Coca Cola Company' which is owner of famous music platform Coke Studio.

Chawla, proprietor of the firm trading as "The Chawla Group" had filed a suit against 'The Coca Cola Company' seeking declaration of non infringement of the registered trademark 'COKE STUDIO', a music platform.

Justice Pratibha M Singh noted that the parties had amicably arrived at a settlement and found the terms of the settlement as lawful.

"There was no impediment in recording the settlement. Accordingly, the parties and all others acting for and on their behalf, shall be bound by the settlement terms contained above. The suit is decreed in terms of the above terms recorded in paras 5(1) to 5(5) above," the Court said.

The Court had on 12th May, 2022 issued summons in the suit to the Coca Cola Company and the parties were referred to mediation before the Delhi High Court Mediation and Conciliation Centre for an amicable resolution.

Accordingly, the Court was informed that the parties had amicably resolved their disputes as per the Joint memo dated 12th September, 2022.

The settlement stated that Chopra shall adopt the mark "Cook Pro 6" instead of the mark "Cook Studio" for the channels and platforms and shall completely transition to the mark "Cook Pro 6" and abandon the use of "Cook Studio" by 30th November, 2022.

It was further settled that Coca Cola Company shall not object to, nor otherwise interfere in any manner with the Chopra's use of the mark and iterations of "Cook Pro 6" and shall also not object to any application made by him for registration of the said mark whether in India or elsewhere.

"The Plaintiff shall withdraw all trademark registration applications relating to "Cook Studio" and consequently withdraw the captioned suit. The Defendant agrees that these terms shall only be limited to those channels/pages operated by the Plaintiff under the mark "Cook Studio" and shall not prejudice/affect the right of the Plaintiff in respect of any other product, service and/or channel or past/prior acts," the settlement agreement read.

In the backdrop of the settlement, the Court decreed the suit accordingly.

Case Title: NIKHIL CHAWLA v. THE COCA COLA COMPANY

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 862

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