HC: AajTak has a Reputation and Goodwill, injucts use of AabTak, AbTak, KalTak and like, Read Order

The Delhi High Court has passed a john doe order in favour of the news channel AajTak in a trademark infringement suit filed by it against various untraced entities.

The single-judge bench of Justice Pratibha M Singh observed that there is no doubt to the repute and goodwill of AajTak and the mark 'AAJ TAK' is well-within public domain over the past years and being used extensively on social media.

The suit was filed by Living Media India Limited which had registered the mark 'AAJ TAK' seeking permanent injunction restraining infringement of trade marks, copyright, passing off, dilution, rendition of accounts, damages, etc., against the Defendants- owner name of the impugned domain names.

The plaintiff submitted that the mark is extensively used all over its wide Social Media presence. It is used to title shows by the News Agency such as ‘Agenda Aaj Tak’, ‘Sahitya Aaj Tak’, ‘Budget Aaj Tak’, ‘Panchayat Aaj Tak in oder to create unique impact audience. They also claim to have established an extensive digital-first ecosystem with the suffix ‘TAK’ by using marks such as ‘Bharat Tak’, Astro Tak’, ‘Fit Tak’, ‘Mobile Tak’, ‘Kids Tak’, ‘Life Tak’, ‘Mumbai Tak’, ‘News Tak’, ‘Sports Tak’, ‘Food Tak’, ‘Duniya Tak’, ‘Crime Tak’, ‘Yoga Tak’, ‘Tech Tak’, ‘Sports Tak’, ‘Mobile Tak’, ‘News Tak’, ‘Astro Tak’, ‘Duniya Tak’, ‘Punjab Tak’, ‘U.P. Tak’, ‘M.P. Tak’, ‘Crime Tak’, ‘Gujarat Tak’ etc.

It was thus claimed that their goodwill and reputation is not merely limited to the mark ‘AAJ TAK’, but also extends to various formative marks of ‘AAJ TAK’ and other marks ending with the word ‘TAK’.

The grievance of Plaintiffs was that various known and unknown parties have started using Plaintiffs’ trademark ‘AAJ TAK’ in on online platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Various parties have also uploaded videos using infringing marks which are either derived from the mark ‘AAJ TAK’ or use the mark ‘TAK’ as suffix. Some parties are also using similar logo forms and devices as that of the Plaintiffs’registered marks. According to the Plaintiffs, such indiscriminate use of ‘AAJ TAK’ mark on online platforms severely impinges upon the Plaintiffs’ rights in their marks and names.

Counsel for the plaintiff submitted that the Defendants who are anonymous websites, YouTube channels, social media pages, social media handles, and social media accounts are violating the registered marks of the Plaintiffs by using the Plaintiffs’ marks and their various derivative forms illegally and unauthorisedly.

The Court noted that the television news channel ‘AAJ TAK’ is one of the most popular news channels in India and the mark ‘TAK’ is also used by the Plaintiffs in respect of various programs and social media accounts, profiles, and handles. Therefore, Plaintiffs’ rights deserve to be protected.

The Court was prima facie convinced that a case is made out for grant of an ad-interim injunction against some of the Defendants. Most of the offending names and logos used are infringing in nature.

"Thus, barring the name ‘Sach Tak’, all the remaining infringing profiles, accounts, videos, channels are liable to be taken down as they are either using identical or deceptively similar names including logos and writing styles which is a colourable imitation of the Plaintiffs’ Aaj Tak logo." 

Read Order Here:

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