Coffee Board filed a petition under C.O. (COMM.IPD-TM) 391/2022 against Fulkant Jha trading as JFK International and another in a trademark dispute concerning the use and exclusive rights over a logo or mark, with the petitioner relying on certain documents to demonstrate its prior use and policy against individual exporters claiming exclusivity. In the interlocutory application I.A. 8296/2024, the petitioner sought to place additional documents 1 to 9 on record, which the respondent opposed on grounds of irrelevance for documents 1-3, delay for document 4, lack of merit for foreign judgments in documents 5-7, and general contentions for documents 8-9 that were previously exchanged. The court reasoned that relevance objections for documents 1-3 could be addressed at final hearing without prejudicing admissibility, document 4 was essential for adjudicating merits despite delay claims, documents 5-7 as foreign judgments could anyway be cited in arguments rendering opposition meritless, and documents 8-9 could be admitted without prejudice allowing respondent rebuttal. The court decided to take all documents 1-9 on record with respondent's rights and contentions preserved including relevance objections for final arguments, granted respondent four weeks to file rebuttal documents failing which liberty exhausts, disposed of the application, noted original documents seen and returned for final hearing, permitted parties to file amended written submissions one week before next date, and listed the main petition for hearing on 15.04.2026.
- Objections to the relevance of additional documents sought to be placed on record in intellectual property proceedings are to be considered at the stage of final hearing, and taking such documents on record does not constitute an expression on their relevance Para 4].
- Documents that rebut the respondent's basis for claiming exclusive rights, such as a policy document disallowing individual claims over a logo, deserve to be taken on record to properly adjudicate the merits of the dispute, notwithstanding objections of delay [ Para 5].
- Judgments of foreign courts can be relied upon during oral arguments without the need to formally file them as additional documents, and thus opposition to taking them on record lacks merit , Para 6].
- Documents previously exchanged between parties may be taken on record without prejudice to the respondent's rights and contentions, with liberty granted to the respondent to file rebuttal documents within a specified time frame , Para 7].
