Passing off and interim injunction threshold against a registered proprietor remained unmet on incomplete pleadings and disputed mark distinctiveness.

A passing off claimant seeking ex parte ad interim injunction against a registered proprietor must show a strong prima facie case before interim restraint will issue. The Court treated the dispute as turning on whether the shared expression was descriptive or suggestive, whether prior use and foreign registration justified immediate protection, and whether the respondent's registration altered the interim balance. Incomplete pleadings, the absence of the respondent's defence, and the appellant's own disclaimers prevented a finding that injunction should follow as of right. On that material, the appellant did not establish entitlement to ex parte ad interim relief, and refusal of interim protection was upheld.

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Issues: Whether the appellant made out a prima facie case for grant of ex parte ad interim injunction in a passing off action against the respondent, and whether the appeal against refusal of such interim relief deserved to be allowed.

Analysis: The dispute turned on whether the expression used in the rival marks was descriptive or suggestive, whether the appellant's claimed prior use and foreign registration entitled it to immediate protection, and whether the respondent's registration altered the balance at the interim stage. The pleadings were incomplete, the respondent had not yet filed its defence, and the materials placed before the Court raised substantial questions on the effect of the appellant's own disclaimers and the scope of any protectable reputation in the mark as a whole. In a passing off action against a registered proprietor, the plaintiff must cross a higher threshold before interim restraint can be issued, and the Court found that the record was not sufficient to conclude that injunction must follow as a matter of right.

Conclusion: The appellant failed to establish a case for ex parte ad interim injunction, and the refusal of interim relief was upheld.

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