TECHLEGAL SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD Vs. GENELIA RITIESH DESHMUKH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard. This is an application for urgent ad-interim reliefs moved after notice. The Plaintiff seeks to restrain the Defendants from releasing a Marathi film under the title "Lai Bhaari". The Plaintiff claims that this phrase or expression is the Plaintiff's registered trade mark and that the Plaintiff is a prior user of this mark.

(2.) I have heard Mr. Dewani, learned counsel for the Plaintiffs and Mr. Dhond, learned senior counsel for Defendants No. 4, 6 and 7, Ms. Dholakia, learned advocate for Defendants No. 1 and 5, and Mr. Parekh, learned advocate for Defendants No. 3 and 8. I have considered, too, the material produced by Mr. Dewani, as also Mr. Dhond.

(3.) For the reasons that follow, I am unable to agree with Mr. Dewani or to accept his submission. Indeed, in my view this entire action is thoroughly misconceived. The expression or phrase over which the Plaintiff claims proprietory, statutory and common law rights is a common and colloquial phrase in Marathi. On the material before me, I have found that the Plaintiff also does not have any proprietory rights in the phrase itself; at best, these rights may exist only in an Internet domain name of which the phrase is a part.