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Court empowered to pass summary judgment, without recording evidence, when Defendants have no defence

In SANDISK LLC vs MEMORY WORLD, the matter before the Delhi High Court was one of infringement of trademark and related issues. The defendant had made one appearance and the failed to appear further for any hearing and an ex-party ad-interim injunction had earlier been issued.

Subsequently, the High Court, invoking the power of the court under Order XIII-A of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 which empowers the Court to pass a summary judgment, without recording evidence, if it appears that the defendants have no real prospect of defending the claim and there is no other compelling reason why claim should not be disposed of, did so as in the opinion of the Court, the defendant has no real prospect of defending the claim and no other compelling reason appears to this Court why claim of the plaintiffs should not be disposed of. This is so because the defendant has not filed its written statement despite entering appearance on 27th April, 2018, as stated above, nor denied the documents of the plaintiffs. Moreover, as the defendant is selling counterfeit products bearing the plaintiffs’ SanDisk trademark and product packaging, it is a clear case of infringement of the plaintiffs’ registered trademark.

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