Eurosport reaches for the 'stars', but Delhi High Court rules in favour of Star in logo dispute (for now)

The Delhi High Court on Friday temporarily restrained Warner Bros subsidiary 'Eurosport' from using marks containing stars deceptively similar to the Star Sports trademark [Star Television Productions Limited & Anr v. Eurosport & Ors]..Eurosport is a French sports network and a subsidiary of Warner Bros Discovery..Justice Asha Menon passed the interim order while dealing with a trademark infringement suit filed by Star.“The defendants are restrained from using the impugned marks…or any other mark which is identical or deceptively similar to the Plaintiff No. 1’s (Star) registered STAR Marks including the STAR Device, thereby amounting to infringement of trademark as also passing off till the disposal of the suit,” the Court has ordered..Star approached the High Court stating that it has been using the trade name and trading style “STAR” since 1991, continuously and uninterruptedly in the broadcasting space, and in India, when they launched the first TV channel, “STAR TV” in 1992. It argued that since inception, the family of Star channels has contained a distinguishing Star device. The Court told the defendants recently renamed their sports channel which was known as DSPORT - with the logo of a globe - to EUROSPORT, which now contains a single star..In response, Eurosport stated that Star's suit was a malicious attempt to wrongly obtain a commercial advantage over it and that it was the registered proprietor of the trademarks and its variations not only in India, but in over 100 jurisdictions around the world, including Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.Eurosport also argued that when its brand was launched in 1989, it was using the ‘Ring of Stars’ logo which was reminiscent of the stars used in the logo of the European Union. This, in turn, signified its jurisdiction of the origin by defendant. However, over the years, they have used multiple variations of its trademark which comprise an unchanged reiteration of a star or stars, and/or the underline brand and wordmark EUROSPORT, the channel claimed..The Court held that even though Eurosport was launched in Europe in 1989, it came to India only in 2017, whereas Star has been functioning here since 1992, and has expanded its broadcasting activities.Justice Menon said that Eurosport may not at all be similar or identical to Start Sports, but when it uses the single star device, the possibility of confusion cannot be ignored.On the argument that Star could not claim monopoly over the name “Star” or the common shape of a star, the Court agreed, but said that the use of a completely unconnected word and device to represent the broadcasting channels of Star is a creative usage of the common word which requires to be protected. Moreover, Eurosport had no explanation for choosing the single star logo, though they have one for the Ring of Stars, that is to reflect the European Union. "Thus, the plaintiffs have a right to protect the use of a common word in a novel manner," the order stated..The judge went on to note that the co-existence of both trademarks in various jurisdictions would not act as an estoppel against Star from seeking to protect its trademarks in India."If the impact on the business in other jurisdiction was negligible, the plaintiffs would be justified in taking a call as to initiate legal action or to ignore the use," the judgment reads.Justice Menon further held that the facts unequivocally establish that Star has disclosed a prima facie case in its favour, and that continued dishonest use of the single star by Eurosport would cause irreparable loss and injury to the former.“There is not a shred of evidence to support the claim of the defendants that the plaintiffs had acquiesced to the use of the Single Star logo by the defendants in India,” the Court went on to state..The Court, therefore, directed Eurosport to not use the Star marks until the suit is disposed of finally. .Senior Advocates Amit Sibal along with Advocates Sneha Jain, Disha Sharma, Saksham Dhingra, Aishvary Vikram, Kanishk Kumar and Kashika Agrawal appeared for Star.Eurosport was represented through Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi and Advocates Arjun Khurana and Lalltaksh Joshi..[Read Order]

Eurosport reaches for the 'stars', but Delhi High Court rules in favour of Star in logo dispute (for now)

Prashant Jha

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