Delhi High Court grants Delhivery interim relief in trademark, copyright case

The Delhi High Court has granted ex parte interim injunction protecting the registered trademark and copyright of the logistics provider Delhivery against any unauthorised infringement of its marks [Delhivery Limited Vs John Doe/Ashok Kumar and others]..Delhivery had moved the Court, stating that certain persons (defendants) are colluding with each other by misrepresenting themselves as Delhivery representatives to extract money from unassuming customers while offering false franchise and delivery services. .Justice Jyoti Singh noted that the marks used by the defendants are deceptively similar to Delhivery’s registered trademark. The Court also noted that prima facie, the defendants were misrepresenting themselves as Delhivery representatives to ride on Delhivery’s goodwill and reputation. “Comparison of the impugned marks used by Defendants No.1 to 6 shows that they are identical/deceptively similar to the registered DELHIVERY trademarks of the Plaintiff… Plaintiff has built a formidable goodwill and reputation through its services and it is prima facie evident that Defendants No.1 to 6 are offering services either by misrepresenting themselves as employees/executives of the Plaintiff or by using the impugned marks and the intent is to ride on the goodwill and reputation of the Plaintiff,” the Court stated. .The Court further noted that since Delhivery and the defendants had a common consumer base and trade channels, it was likely if confusion would arise if an interim injunction order is not passed. “The impugned marks being identical/deceptively similar and the consumer base and trade channels being common, there is every likelihood of confusion amongst members of the trade and consumers,” the Court stated. .Therefore, the Court restrained the defendants from using Delhivery’s trademarks in e-mails, domain names, letter heads, franchise letters or agreements in any manner. Delhivery also submitted that the defendants were using deceptive domain names such as ‘delhiverydistibutars.com’ and ‘delhiverypartner.com’. To address this, the Court directed the concerned domain name registrars to suspend and lock such infringing domain names.The Court further directed telecom service providers to disclose the full names, e-mail addresses and residential addresses of the defendants. The Court has directed the banks holding defendants’ accounts to disclose their KYC details as well and to block or suspend the said accounts.The case will be heard next on March 19. .Advocates Essenese Obhan, Anjuri Saxena and Mudit Singh appeared for Delhivery..[Read order]. .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.