TATA SKY LTD. Vs. SACHIN CODY & ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Plaintiff is a Joint Venture Company between Tata Sons Limited and Sky Broadcasting Group plc. The Plaintiff provides Direct to Home (DTH) services in India through a satellite television service. This service is provided in High Definition (HD) or, as the case may be, DVD quality picture since the commencement of business in 2005. The suit has been instituted before the Court to seek relief against what the Plaintiff perceives as the wrongful conduct of the First Defendant of cyber squatting by registering, trafficking in or using domain names dishonestly with an intent to profit from the goodwill of a well known and famous trademark and by infringement of copyright. The Second Defendant to the suit is a domain name registrar. The Third Defendant is a web hosting agency. The Plaintiff launched services in India in or about 2005 using the trade mark Tata Sky to provide to a television audience in India a wide range of viewing options comprising of entertainment, sports and news in a High Definition/DVD format with CD quality sound. The Plaintiff has an extensive customer service network with a work force of 3000 Engineers together with call centres manned by multi-lingual customer service representatives. The Plaintiff commenced business under the combined mark of Tata Sky of which the mark Tata is used under licence from Tata Sons Limited while the mark Sky is used under licence from Sky Broadcasting Group plc. The Plaintiff has used brand extensions of Tata Sky combined with a distinctive logo. Sometime after 2008 the Plaintiff launched a new line of activity in a range which has been labelled as Tata Sky Plus. The Plaintiff has also launched a range of products under the mark Tata Sky HD; the letters HD denoting High Definition.

(2.) The Plaintiff is the proprietor of several domain names including tatasky.com and tataskyplus.com which were registered on 7 July 2005 and 4 August 2008. The Plaintiff uses these domain names in relation to its websites which are utilized for the purpose of the business. The Plaintiff is the owner of the copyright subsisting in the content appearing on its websites which is inter alia in the nature of literary, artistic and photographic work.

(3.) The sales turnover of the Plaintiff under the Tata Sky marks was Rs. 31 crores for 2006-07, Rs. 259 crores for 2007-08, Rs. 601 crores for 2008-09 and Rs. 980 crores for 2009-10. The Tata Sky marks have been promoted and advertised in the print and electronic media. The Plaintiff therefore claims to have acquired reputation and goodwill in the marks which are associated with the Plaintiff in the trade and the public at large.