Times Publishing House serves legal notice on NUJS law student over alleged defamation; Spicy IP’s Shamnad Basheer replies

The Times Publishing House Ltd (TPH), through its advocates K Dutta & Associates, have served a legal notice on 22-year old law student, Aparajita Lath for alleged defamation. The publishing company, which is part of the Times Group, claims that a blog post written by Lath on the IP blog, Spicy IP in February this year, has caused TPH to suffer “an irreparable injury and loss of reputation”..According to a recent post on SpicyIP, the allegedly defamatory post (on the trademark dispute over the trademark “Financial Times” and “FT”), also contained a number of references to articles which appeared in the Mint, including an article by veteran journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. The blog post also contained a statement made by Senior Advocate Harish Salve. However, till date, neither Mint nor Salve has received any legal notice from TPH on this matter..SpicyIP founder, Professor Shamnad Bhasheer has replied to the notice, vehemently denying the allegations and questions TBH’s selective targeting of Lath. Excerpts from the reply,.Firstly, we strongly object to the vile language and the highly aggressive tone used in the notice. We can respond in kind, but we chose to be a bit more civil with you.SpicyIP aims at promoting transparency within the Indian IP ecosystem by engaging in an honest and objective reporting/analysis of important Indian IP cases and events…..If you wished to clarify some aspect of this unfortunate trademark dispute, you ought to have engaged with us either in the comments section or by sending us an email or a guest post. Yet you chose to issue this highly malevolent letter, hoping to intimidate us into a meek apology. Unfortunately, while the meek may inherit the earth, they are bound to be shown no favour by corporate powerhouses such as your client…..You chose instead to vent your animosity and target an innocent student who penned her piece in good faith and backed it up with very credible sources, including the views of legal stalwarts. We are particularly amused at your allegation that a 22-year-old law student caused “irreparable injury” and “loss of reputation” to a powerful media house by highlighting a highly technical trademark dispute of public importance and reflecting on the protracted nature of the litigation. Continue to amuse us, and we may begin to reciprocate….We take strong exception to your imputation of bad faith to Aparajita whose writings on the blog have always reflected the highest values of journalistic integrity and passion. If you continue with this character assassination and threaten us any further, we will be constrained to initiate legal proceedings against you. This will needlessly fill the coffers of two sets of lawyers, but perhaps that’s what you really want.

Times Publishing House serves legal notice on NUJS law student over alleged defamation; Spicy IP’s Shamnad Basheer replies

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