Delhi HC restrains Campus from selling shoe range on Puma’s copyright plaint

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has restrained Campus Activewear from selling its Discovery range of shoes, on a complaint by German sportswear giant Puma that accused the Indian company of copying the sole of one of its latest shoes.
Puma filed the case earlier this month, alleging that the New Delhi-based company’s Discovery range had soles that looked like an exact copy of Puma’s RSX-3D series running shoes, a person familiar with the case said. The two parties were currently trying to settle the matter, the person added.

Campus Activewear said the matter was sub judice and refused to comment further.

In a statement, Puma said: “We will continue to take action and enforce our global intellectual property rights wherever there is a case of copyright infringement.”

“It is directed that the defendant, its directors, agents, assigns in business, dealers, stockiest, distributors are restrained from manufacturing, trading, selling, supplying marketing, offering for sale through online shopping portals, dealing in any other way with the impugned goods i.e., shoes under the sub-brand ‘Discovery’,” the court said in its order on January 9. Further hearing is scheduled for May.

Campus Activewear is part of the Synergy Action Group that sells 100,000 pairs of shoes every day through more than 50,000, mostly third-party, outlets, according to Action Shoes’ website.

Companies have been conducting raids in grey markets in various citiesto check counterfeits and misuse of their trademarks.