BUFFALO NETWORKS PVT LTD Vs. MANISH JAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Defendants were proceeded ex parle. Plaintiffs have led affidavit by way of evidence. Case of the plaintiffs is that the first plaintiff, by virtue of an agreement dated 20.7.2000 took over the operations of plaintiff No. 2 as a going concern. Plaintiff No. 2 had a news portal 'www.tehelka.com'. Since plaintiff No. 2 faced difficulties in registering the domain name from India, one of its employees, Aniruddha Bahal requested his cousin, Ashish Mehra to register the domain name, 'www.tehelka.com' with the understanding th?t at a future date, domain name would be assigned to the plaintiffs. Domain name was registered with the registering authority. 'Register.com.Inc.' Subsequently, Mr. Ashish Mehra assigned the domain name to plaintiff No. 2 in March 2000.

(2.) It is accordingly claimed that in view of the agreement dated 20.7.2000 between the plaintiffs, plaintiff No. 1 has become the absolute owner and proprietor of the domain name, 'www.tehelka.com.'

(3.) It is stated that the name 'tehelka' is a word chosen by the plaintiffs as a domain name. It is not a word of common usage and is not related to the service of news.