Delhi High Court passes John Doe order in favour of Aaj Tak; directs social media platforms to take down nearly 30 pages/handles

The Delhi High Court has directed Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to take down nearly 30 profiles, channels or accounts which have been using the logos deceptively similar to that of Hindi news channel 'Aaj Tak' [Living Media India Limited and Anr v AabTak Channel.com (John Does) and Ors]. .Justice Prathiba M Singh passed a John Doe order holding that there can be no doubt that the reputation and goodwill in the name 'Aaj Tak' is well established and the TV channel is one of the most popular news channels in the country whose mark deserves to be protected. "This Court is prima facie convinced that a case is made out for grant of an ad-interim injunction against some of the Defendants. Most of the offending names and logos used are infringing in nature. Thus, barring the name ‘Sach Tak’, all the remaining infringing profiles, accounts, videos, channels are liable to be taken down as they are either using identical or deceptively similar names including logos and writing styles which is a colourable imitation of the Plaintiffs’ Aaj Tak logo," Justice Singh noted in her order. John Doe orders are blanket cease and desist injunctions that are issued against anonymous entities. They are usually issued in suits involving an infringement of intellectual property, since it is often practically impossible to track down every infringing party..The Court in the instant case was dealing with a suit filed by Living Media India Limited (plaintiff), parent company of India Today Group which owns Aaj Tak, stating that they had registered the mark ‘AAJ TAK' which is a well-known and is used extensively on social media. The plaintiffs said that they had created various accounts, profiles and handles on social media and content sharing platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram etc and their goodwill and reputation is not merely limited to the mark ‘AAJ TAK’, but also extends to various formative marks of ‘AAJ TAK’ and other marks ending with the word ‘TAK’. The suit said that various known and unknown parties started using plaintiff's trademark ‘Aaj Tak’ on online platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many have also uploaded videos using infringing marks which are either derived from the mark ‘AAJ TAK’ or use the mark ‘TAK’ as suffix. It added that such indiscriminate use of 'Aaj Tak' mark on online platforms severely impinged upon the their rights in their marks and therefore, anonymous websites on the social media platforms are violating their registered marks by using it wholly or in various derivative forms. .The Court directed the social media companies that whenever the mark 'Aaj Tak' is used identically on online platform, the same should be taken down within 36 hours of the plaintiffs providing the offending URLs. In case of a deceptive logo or a different mark with either the word 'Aaj' or 'Tak', the social media platforms are to take down the said page, video or post within 36 hours as per the IT Rules. Justice Singh further said that in case the posts or videos are not taken down within 36 hours, the platforms shall give intimation to the plaintiffs after which they can avail other remedies in accordance with law. .The Court also issued summons to the defendants directing them to file their written statement within 30 days. Aaj Tak was asked to file a replication within 15 days of the receipt of the written statement. The case will be heard next on 3 August, 2022. .Advocates Hrishikesh Baruah, Shahrukh Ejaz, Nilotpal Bansal, Md. Mobashir, Rohit Mehra and Nikita Sachdeva appeared for the plaintiffs. Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan along with advocate Deepak Gogia and Jithin M George apepared for Twitter. .[Read Order]