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suffering damage as a consequence of the violation of his trademark, it is of the essence that he receive immediate relief, and not have to wait for the termination of the suit. At the same time, the defendant would probably change his mark, if such an interim injunction is given against him, as the other option for him would be to stop production till the end of the suit. There may even be cases where the suit requires no further proceedings, as both parties wish to have no further litigation on account of the satisfactory nature of the alternate arrangements made by them on account of the interim order. On the other hand the defendant’s interests would be virtually irreversibly affected if a temporary injunction were given against him and he were made to wait until the completion of the proceedings. The plaintiff must satisfy the Court that there is a prima facie violation of his trademark, before it would oblige him with an order in his favour. Consequently the manner in which a prima facie case may be set up is significant. The provisions under which the Court may grant temporary injunctions are to be found in Order 39 of the Civil Procedure Code. The injunction may be by way of interim relief, in which case the defendant is heard before the order is passed, or in cases where it is proved that the object of granting the injunction would be defeated by delay, it may be by way of an ad – interim relief, that is, without notice to the defendant. In both these matters, the Applicant must rove three things – •
He must prima facie prove his right to relief
•
He must show that irreparable damage would result if the relief is not granted
•
He must show that the balance of convenience is in his favour.
During proceedings for interim relief, evidence is usually given by way of affidavits. The rules regarding this are laid down in Order 19 of the Code of Civil Procedure. However, if the Court deems it fit, it may examine the deponent on oath. Along with such evidence is submitted documentary evidence. This would include a certified copy of the relevant extract form the register of Trademarks, relevant documents showing the plaintiff’s and defendant’s trademark, and documents necessary to show that considerable loss would be suffered if the relief is not granted. The standard of evidence required would of course not be as high as that in the proceedings, bu tit is essential that the proper evidence be submitted, for Courts do not usually reconsider matters of interim relief, once they have rejected applications for them. Order 19 specifies that affidavits must be limited to matters which the deponent is able to prove