Delhi High Court refuses to lift stay on Ravi Mohan Studios using ‘BRO CODE’ for upcoming film

A Division Bench of Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to stay the single-judge's order restraining actor Ravi Mohan’s film production house from using the title “BRO CODE” for an upcoming film [Ravi Mohan Studios Private Limited vs. Indospirit Beverages].

A Division Bench of Justices Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla opined that granting a stay at this stage would amount to allowing the appeal.

It made the observation while issuing notice on the studio’s appeal challenging the injunction

On October 14, the Court had passed an interim order restraining the film production house of actor Ravi Mohan from using "BRO CODE” for an upcoming film.

The order was passed on a trademark suit filed by Indospirit Beverages Private Limited, which sells the popular carbonated wine-in-a-pint beverage of the same name.

The single-judge held that Ravi Mohan Studios' use of an identical mark for a film title was likely to create consumer confusion and erode the goodwill and reputation associated with Indospirit’s flagship product.

This led to the appeal before the Division Bench.

The Court today questioned Indospirit Beverages on the statutory foundation of the injunction, asking under which sub-section of Section 29 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, could the order be sustained.

“If it is an infringement, you will have to tell us under which subsection of Section 29 this falls… There is not even a prima facie observation on any of these four conditions in the order,” the Bench remarked, noting that the single-judge had not invoked Section 29(4) or recorded findings on its statutory ingredients.

Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for Indospirit, submitted that Section 29(4)(b) would be applicable in the present case. The same requires proof of the mark’s reputation in India, absence of due cause and that taking unfair advantage of or harming its distinctive character.

The Bench then declined to stay the injunction, observing that doing so would render the underlying suit infructuous.

It issued notice on the appeal and listed the matter for final disposal on December 5.

Krishnan was briefed by Advocates Ankur Sangal, Ankit Arvind, Shilpi Sinha, Priyanka Jaiswal, and Nishesh Gupta from Khaitan & Co, along with Advocates Aditya Ganju and Saumanyu Sethi from AG Chambers.

Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak appeared for Ravi Mohan Studios.

Last week, Indospirit had moved a contempt plea against Ravi Mohan for not complying with the order of the court. The Court had issued notice in that matter as well and the same is pending before the Court.