The Delhi High Court, on September 8, 2025, granted an ad-interim injunction to the plaintiff, the registered proprietor of the famous brand name “Barbie.” Justice Manmeet Singh Arora observed that, since Defendant No. 1’s services were visually, phonetically, and conceptually identical to the plaintiff’s products, a prima facie case was established in the plaintiff’s favor.
The plaintiff through its subsidiary Mattel Toys (India) Pvt. Ltd., had actively promoted, marketed and popularized the brand of ‘Barbie’ with its products being widely available across leading Indian e-commerce platforms. On September 20, 2024 the plaintiff issued a cease-and-desist notice to defendant no. 1 contending that the defendant no. 1 had used the ‘Barbie’ trademark by mail and courier which the latter had allegedly ignored. To the discovery of the plaintiff, defendant no. 1 had also been using the brand name Barbie for commercial kitchen equipment, event management, and catering services on IndiaMart and their websites. The Plaintiff argued that Defendant copied the dominant Barbie trademark, including the pink “B” logo, adding only generic suffixes, causing consumer confusion, diluting goodwill, and amounting to trademark infringement and passing off. The plaintiff thus sought to restrain defendant no.1 from using the marks and suspend the registered infringing domains. The defendant no.1 while acknowledging the Barbie name, asserted that it used the word Barbie so distinctively that it would not cause confusion. He also reiterated by saying that had registered the name under the class entirely different from the plaintiff’s registrations.
The Delhi High Court observed that the balance of convenience favored the plaintiff, who would suffer irreparable harm if an ad-interim injunction was not granted. The Court noted that the Defendant’s marks fell within Class 21, the same as the Plaintiff’s registrations, and that the dominant element “Barbie” was identical across the marks. Accordingly, the Court granted an ad-interim injunction, restraining Defendant No. 1 from using the Barbie trademarks and directing the takedown of all social media profiles and websites referring to the Barbie marks. Additionally, Defendant Nos. 2 and 3 were directed to lock and suspend the domain names barbieenterprise.com and barbieenterprise.in for the duration of the suit. The Court further ordered that notice be served to the Defendants, with replies due within four weeks, any rejoinder within the following four weeks, and compliance within two weeks. The matter is now listed before the Joint Registrar on October 16, 2025, and before the Court on March 10, 2026.
Appearances:
For the Plaintiff: Advs.- Ms. Shwetasree Majumder, Mr. Prithvi Singh, Mr. Prithvi Gulati and Mr. Ritwik Marwaha
For the Defendants: None
