TIMES INTERNET LIMITED Vs. INDIATMES COM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff is a company incorporated and registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The suit had been instituted through Mr. Manish Jain, Company Secretary of the plaintiff seeking relief of permanent injunction on account of passing off and infringement of trademark, domain name 'INDIATIMES.COM'.

(2.) It is stated in the plaint that M/s. Bennett Coleman and Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as BCCL) is the promoter of the plaintiff. BCCL entered into the field of e-commerce about a decade back under the trade name/logo 'INDIATIMES.COM'. The Internet website was developed as 'http://www.indiatimes.com' and the domain name was registered as a domain name with the Registrars, Network Solutions Inc. The plaintiff has been offering a large variety of goods and services, Internet shopping, online games, Internet options etc. through this website. The logo is stated to have been coined by BCCL as the said company is the owner of numerous publications such as the Times of India, The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, etc. popularly known as the Times Group Publications.

(3.) The grievance of the plaintiff is that defendant No.1 has unlawfully and with malafide intention got a deceptively similar domain name 'INDIATMES.COM' registered in their own name. Defendant No.1 has registered its domain name with M/s. eNom Inc., USA. Defendant No.3 is nominated as the proxy Registrar of the domain name and has concealed personal information of itself.