Delhi High Court fines Instant Bollywood founder ₹20 lakh for suppression of fact in trademark case

The Delhi High Court has imposed costs of ₹20 lakh on Mandeep Singh, founder of the popular entertainment platform Instant Bollywood, for suppressing material facts in a trademark dispute involving the brand. The Court has also restrained the assignment of the trademark in favour of Times Internet Inc. [Mandeep Singh Vs Shabir Momin].

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora held,

"This Court imposes costs of Rs. 5 lakhs in each of these petitions on the Petitioner for this suppression, which is to be paid to the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee [DHCLSC] within a period of two [2] weeks."

Singh had filed four petitions, taking the total cost to be paid under the Court's order to ₹20 lakhs.

The petitions concern the “Instant Bollywood” device mark registered in Classes 16, 35, 38 and 41 with the Trademarks Registry. Singh claims to have commenced providing entertainment and digital media services under the Instant Bollywood brand in 2012 and to have used the device mark since 2016, with a large social media following.

In 2019, Singh entered into an agreement with One Digital Entertainment Pte Ltd (ODE) for the management and development of the brand. The agreement recorded that the intellectual property rights in the brand would be jointly owned on a 50:50 basis. The agreement was terminated in August 2025.

Singh alleged that thereafter he learnt that Shabir Momin, managing director of ODE, had “clandestinely applied and obtained multiple registrations for the subject marks (Instant Bollywood) in various classes exclusively in his name, without notice to Singh.

During the hearing, Times Internet Inc sought to be impleaded in the case, stating that Momin had assigned the trademarks to it by an agreement dated October 24, 2025.

Allowing the impleadment, the Court held that “it is apparent that the Petitioner was aware that Times Internet Inc. was asserting transfer of rights in the subject trademarks,” and found that Times Internet Inc was a proper and a necessary party to the case.

On a prima facie assessment of rights, the Court noted:

“Petitioner’s 50% Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the brand ‘INSTANT BOLLYWOOD’ and the device mark are duly acknowledged in the agreement dated 13.06.2019 relied upon by Respondent Nos. 1 and 3.”

The Court further observed that Singh was not a confirming party to the transaction documents and had not received any consideration, adding that the respondents would have to explain the legal basis of Singh's exclusion from the registration before the registry as well as the Transaction Documents.

In order to protect the Singh's admitted rights, the Court then directed that status quo be maintained with respect to the assignment dated October 24, 2025, and restrained the creation of any third-party interests in the subject trademarks.

However, the Court accepted the objection raised by Times Internet Inc on non-disclosure of certain facts by Singh.

It held that documents placed on record showed that Singh had knowledge of the trademark registrations as early as 2022 and that such documents were relevant and material documents which Singh ought to have filed with the petition.

The Court held:

“The non-disclosure amounts to suppression; however, this Court is not inclined to dismiss the injunction application as Petitioner’s 50% right in the subject trademark is prima facie acknowledged.”

In these circumstances, the Court imposed costs of ₹5 lakh in each of the four petitions, directing that the total amount of ₹20 lakh be paid by Singh to the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee within two weeks.

The case will now come up before the Court in May 2026.

Mandeep Singh was represented by Senior Advocate Swathi Sukumar, along with Advocates Nikhil Chawla, Mansha Mehta, Arshiya Chauhan, Ritik Raghuwanshi and Tejasvini Puri.

Shabir Momin was represented by Advocates Samarjit G Pattnaik, Zeeshan Khan, Kashish Seth, Keshav Yadav and Gaurav Vutts.

The Trade Marks Registry was represented by Central Government Standing Counsel Nidhi Raman along with Advocates Om Ram and Arnav Mittal.

Times Internet Inc was represented by Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, along with Advocates Mohit Rohatgi, Yuvnesh Sharma, Karan Trehan and Aditi Namekal.

[Read Order]