Settlement reached in trademark infringement suit by Bennett Coleman, by accepting nominal damages of one rupee, stands disposed of by Delhi Court

Read Order: Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. vs. Giftcartecommerce Pvt. Ltd.  

Pankaj Bajpai

New Delhi, November 10, 2021: The Tis Hazari Court has recently disposed of a suit filed by Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. (Plaintiff) alleging trademark infringement by defendant entities, involved in providing gifts on their web portals, in view of a settlement arrived between both the parties on nominal damages of one rupee. 

The District Judge Man Mohan Sharma, therefore, passed a consent decree by accepting the settlement between the plaintiff and defendant, after finding the terms of applications and Settlement Agreement to be within the four corners of law. 

Going by the background of the case, Bennett Coleman, a flagship company of the “Times Group” engaged in the business of publishing newspapers, journals & magazines, had filed a suit for trademark infringement against Department of Telecommunication as well as other private entities (Defendants) engaged in the business of providing online services to its customers in form of personalized/customized gifts. 

It was alleged that an identical trademark similar to Plaintiff’s company was used by the Defendants on their personalized gifts, and therefore, the plaintiff sought a decree of permanent injunction restraining the defendants from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, advertising, directly or indirectly using and infringing its trademarks, on the goods & services being provided by defendants to their customers on web portals or otherwise. 

Those defendant private entities are namely Giftcart Commerce Pvt. Ltd., Infureka Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Ferns N Petals Pvt. Ltd., G A Media Pvt. Ltd., Mystical Moments Wedding Services Pvt. Ltd., Awwsme Gifts Pvt. Ltd., FA Gifts Pvt. Ltd and Mohan Impressions Pvt. Ltd., Huppme Ecom Network Pvt. Ltd. And RV Media Solutions Pvt. Ltd. 

As far as Giftcart Ecommerce Pvt. Ltd, Infureka Technologies Pvt. Ltd, and Mohan Impressions Pvt. Ltd were concerned, it was urged on behalf of their counsel that the alleged activity of Giftcart was of a spoof product with adequate disclaimers, and hence the same was covered under descriptive fair use of the Trade Marks Act, 1999. 

During the course of hearing, the counsel for the plaintiff also submitted that the name of Mohan Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. be deleted from the array of the parties, and hence the said stand was accepted after recording the statement of the counsel to this effect. 

Finally, the District Judge listed the matter to be heard on December 18, 2021 seeking appearance of other defendants. 

Herein, the Plaintiff was represented by Mr. Rahul Malhotra, Defendant No. 1, 2 & 10 were represented by Ms. Anushkaa Arora, Principal & Founder, ABA Law Office, and Defendant No. 7 was represented by Mr. Rahul Shukla.