{"id":34714,"date":"2021-08-23T11:24:12","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T05:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/?p=34714"},"modified":"2021-08-23T11:24:14","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T05:54:14","slug":"famous-trademark-infringement-cases-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/famous-trademark-infringement-cases-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"An Outlook on Famous Trademark Infringement Cases in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brand building isn’t something you can achieve overnight. It seeks a tremendous amount of hardship, adequate capital.\u00a0And once your brand cements its place in the target markets, it becomes more vulnerable to infringement. This is where trademark protection comes into play.\u00a0Businesses often choose trademark protection in India to avail nationwide protection from infringers. Although, there are alternative options to get worldwide protection via International Trademark<\/strong><\/a> Association & Madrid Protocol. Many brands, particularly the famous ones, are more exposed to infringement risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, hundreds of brands have encountered trademark infringement issues that had cost them significant capital loss. The new brand owner must take references from the established brands to get a basic idea of how to ensure brand protection. Knowing the trademark law is the next best thing owners can do to ensure seamless brand protection. However, it is not easy as it looks. Hence, it is advisable to refer to the previous landmark trademark infringement cases in India. In this write-up, we have enlisted a list of famous trademark infringement cases in India that still resonate strongly among the legal experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read our article<\/b>:Overall Trademark Registration in India <\/a><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular Trademark infringement cases in India<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Following\nare some famous trademark infringement cases in India that offer better clarity\non how trademark laws work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahoo! Inc. v. Akash Arora & Anr <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yahoo\nincorporation is an American giant with a global footprint. The corporation\nalso owns the famous trademark Yahoo & the domain name Yahoo name. Both the\ndomain name & the trademark possess a distinctive name, reputation, &\ngoodwill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahoo.com\nwas registered by Yahoo Inc with Network Sol. Inc in1995, which facilitates a\nwide array of online services. The trademark Yahoo owns the legal status in 65\ncountries, excluding India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndefendant, i.e. Akash Arora, started to facilitate services identical to those\nrendered by Yahoo.com under the name Yahoo India. Yahoo Inc had sued the\naccused of using a trademark identical to its own & passing off this\nservice identical to the plaintiff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Whether\nthe act of Akash Arora while registering the domain name of Yahoo India to\noffer some services similar to those offered by Yahoo Inc is an infringement of\nthe trademark of Yahoo Inc and results in passing-off under the concerned\nsections of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nan accused does business activities under a name that is identical to the name\nunder which the complainant is trading and that name has earned substantial\ngoodwill & the masses are likely to be misled that the accused’s business\nis the complainant’s business or is a department or brand of the complainant,\nthe accused is accountable for action in passing off.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahoo\nInc argued that the defendant acquired the domain name of Yahoo to render\nservices identical to those of Yahoo Inc & had strived to cash in on the\nreputation earned by Yahoo Inc because there was a possibility of a user\ngetting deceived, believing that either of the domain names belongs to the same\ncompany, i.e. Yahoo Inc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus,\nYahoo.Inc insisted that the defendant is liable for passing off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nthe two domain names\/trademark ‘Yahoo!’ and ‘Yahoo India!’ were nearly\nidentical & the latter offered services identical to those offered by the\nformer & the latter passed them off as being rendered by Yahoo.Inc, the\nhonourable court held the defendant liable for passing off & refrained him\nfrom using the identical domain name.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\njudgment of the court was based on the rationale that where the value of the\nbrand name lies in its similarity with another name of another company, the\nmasses is likely to get confused by using such brand name, and such undertaking\nwould lead to passing off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndecision of the court in the present case is based on that where the value of\nthe name solely lies only in its resemblance to the trademark name of another enterprises,\nthe public is likely to get deceived by the use of such name and such act would\namount to passing off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academy Awards v. GoDaddy <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another cyber-squatting problem where the Academy award was sued the popular domain retailer GoDaddy<\/strong><\/em>[1]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/sup>. It was the dispute that continued for five years. In the appeal  the plantiff claimed that the defendant  was intentionally letting the consumers buy  a deceptively identical domain name like 2011Oscars.com, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nclaimed on permitting individuals to pass on the profit that wished to part on\nsaid domains & claimed a part of revenue. ‘Potentially confusing’. But,\neventually, the judge ordered that the defendant has no malicious intent to\nprofit from their domain sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially,\nthe Academy argued that there were 57 domain names sold by the defendant who\nhad no requisite bad faith to profit from the sales of the domain name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nlegal dispute lasted for five years and was considered a costly affair. While\nthis legal dispute was remarkably costly, it favoured the cybersquatting space\n& the defendant came out clean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coca Cola Company v. Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In\nthis legal case, the renowned brand Bisleri was accused by the master contract\nof having transfer & confer the trademark rights for MAAZA, a Coke brand.\nIt also accords the formulation rights, technical know-how, and Intellectual\nProperty Right along with goodwill for bottling & trading a mango fruit\ndrink- Maaza to Coca Cola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now,\nthe accused applied for Trademark protection for the term MAAZA in Turkey &\nbegin shipping the product under the given name. The complainant pleaded for\npermanent injunction and infringement damages for trademark & passing off\nsince it was accorded to them by the Bisleri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually,\nthe court ordered the interim injunction for the defendant for using the\ntrademark, even putting it up for exportation, which was a case of trademark\nviolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Louis Vuitton v. Louis Vuiton Dak <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The\nLouis Vuitton Dak is a famous fried chicken restaurant based in South Korea.\nThis popular restaurant lost the battle against the world-renowned designer\nLouis Vuitton. The court rendered their judgment favouring the plaintiff, i.e.\nLouis Vuitton, by concluding that the restaurant name breaches the concept of\ndistinctiveness cited in the trademark law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also,\nthe logo and the packaging of the restaurant are deceptively identical to that\nof the designer’s iconic imagery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ncompelled the defendant to altered its name to LOUISVUI TONDAK, for which it\nwas subjected to a fine of $14.5 million. Thus, if you are a business, ensure\nmaintaining a safe distance to popular names and try not to replicate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zara Food vs Zara Fashion <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The\nbrand name ZARA needs no introduction as it is one of the most admired fashion\nbrands in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ncase came to light in the year 2010 when this Spanish apparel giant caught a\nDelhi-based restaurant using a similar brand name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently,\nZARA fashion sued the restaurant, and the case went into the Delhi High court.\nIn the presence of strong evidence, the court ruled out the judgement in favour\nof plaintiff by restraining the defendant from using the same brand name,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brand\nprotection is a tedious undertaking, especially for popular businesses. The\nprovisions under the trademark law are way too stringent when penalizing\ndeceptively similar brand names. Henceforth, it is advisable for every business\nowner to stay in line with underlying norms and make sure their brand\nname; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Zara<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every\nbusiness must comprehend the basic paradigm of the trademark laws to ensure\nbetter and hassle-free protection for their brand. It is best to appoint\nexperts from the legal domain with a specialization in trademark law. This way,\nyou can mitigate the possibility of deviating from underlying provisions and\nkeep your brand name safe as long as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that is all about the Trademark Infringement Cases in India. Do not forget to prompt us if you need some advice on the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read our article<\/b>:How Can You Apply For Online Trademark Registration in India? <\/a><\/mark><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brand building isn’t something you can achieve overnight. It seeks a tremendous amount of hardship, adequate capital.\u00a0And once your brand cements its place in the target markets, it becomes more vulnerable to infringement. This is where trademark protection comes into play.\u00a0Businesses often choose trademark protection in India to avail nationwide protection from infringers. Although, there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":34738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[1927],"acf":{"service_id":"18"},"authorName":"Pankaj Tyagi","authorImageUrl":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/MicrosoftTeams-image-42.jpg","authorDescription":"Pankaj has a diverse experience of writing research papers, blog, and articles during his college time. Earlier, he was working as a tax consultant in a financial firm, but his interest in writing drives him to pursue a career in the writing field.","postViews":12127,"readingTime":5,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34714"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34749,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714\/revisions\/34749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpbiz.io\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}