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2014 Supreme(Del) 3400
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI
MANMOHAN SINGH, J.
Make My Trip(India) Pvt. Ltd. - Appellant
Versus
Make My Tours Pvt. Ltd. - Respondent
CS(OS) No. 4039 of 2014
Decided On : 23-12-2014
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : Prashant Gupta and Kanishk Kumar.
The main legal point established is the court's reliance on a strong prima facie case and balance of convenience in granting an interim injunction based on the plaintiff's well-known marks and likelihood of confusion and deception.
Headnote:
Section 151 CPC - Application for Exemption from Filing True Typed Copies of Documents - Plaintiff's Suit for Injunction and Other Reliefs - Infringement of Plaintiff's Marks and Copyright - Court's Decision Based on Strong Prima Facie Case and Balance of Convenience
Fact of the Case:
Plaintiff filed an application seeking exemption from filing true typed copies of documents under Section 151 CPC. The plaintiff also filed a suit against the defendants seeking injunction and other reliefs to restrain the defendants from using the marks, Makemytours, IMAGE, and the IMAGE logo, alleging infringement of the plaintiff's marks IMAGE & IMAGE and copyright in the artistic works IMAGE and IMAGE.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the plaintiff had made substantial investment in advertising and promotion, had achieved enviable fame and notoriety, and had acquired a secondary meaning in the business and trade, qualifying them as well-known marks. The court also found that the defendants' use of virtually identical impugned marks for identical services created a false sense of affiliation or collaboration with the plaintiff, likely to cause confusion and deception.
Issues: The issues involved infringement of plaintiff's marks and copyright, deceptive similarity of the defendants' marks, and the likelihood of confusion and deception in the public.
Ratio Decidendi: The court's decision was based on the plaintiff's strong prima facie case and the balance of convenience, leading to the grant of an interim injunction restraining the defendants from using the impugned marks.
Final Decision: The court granted the plaintiff's application for exemption from filing true typed copies of documents and allowed the plaintiff's suit for injunction, restraining the defendants from using the impugned marks, based on the strong prima facie case and balance of convenience.
JUDGMENT :
Manmohan Singh, J.
I.A. No. 26297/2014
This is an application filed by the plaintiff under Section 151 CPC seeking exemption from filing true typed copies of documents.
For the reasons stated in the application, the same is allowed, subject to said documents being produced at the time of admission/denial of the documents.
The application is disposed of.
CS(OS) No. 4039/2014
Let the plaint be registered as a suit.
Issue summons to the defendants through all modes of service including e-mail in addition, returnable on 13th February, 2015.
I.A. No. 26296/2014 (u/o XXXIX R. 1 & 2 CPC)
1. Issue notice to the defendants, returnable on 13th February, 2015.
2. Plaintiff has filed the present suit against the defendants seeking injunction and other reliefs to restrain the defendants from using the marks, Makemytours, IMAGE and the IMAGE logo (hereinafter referred to as "impugned marks") thereby infringing the plaintiff's marks IMAGE & IMAGE (hereinafter referred to as "MMT marks") and copyright in the artistic works IMAGE and IMAGE (hereinafter referred to as "MMT logo").
3. Brief facts leading to the present case are that the plaintiff, a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956, was founded in the year 2000 for offering of a range of best-value composite packages of flights, hotels and tour bookings with cutting-edge technology and dedicated customer support. The plaintiff claims to be the pioneer of the entire online travel industry in India. It is averred that focusing on enabling and assisting travelers with instant booking of flights and hotels and on providing comprehensive choices to its users, the plaintiff was able to take immediate advantage of the new opportunities in the Indian domestic travel market. Further, on account of launch of operations by various budget airlines in India and abroad, the plaintiff was able to offer its customers the option of making online travel bookings at very cheap prices. This resulted in the plaintiff becoming the preferred choice of millions of customers in India and internationally looking to book their travel online.
4. The plaintiff was originally incorporated as 'Travel by Web Private Limited' on 13th April, 2000. On 2nd August, 2000, the plaintiff changed its corporate name to 'Makemytrip.com Pvt. Ltd'. Subsequently, on 28th June, 2002, the plaintiff again changed its name to 'MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt. Ltd.', its present name.
5. It has been averred that over the years, the plaintiff has expanded its repertoire of products and services to go beyond online booking of travel. As on date, the plaintiff, through its primary website, www.makemytrip.com and other technology-enhanced platforms, offers a wide range of travel services and products, both in India and abroad, including air tickets, hotels, rail tickets, bus tickets, car hire, domestic and international holiday packages and ancillary travel requirements such as facilitating access to travel insurance.
6. Recently, in January, 2010 with a view to raising of funds, the plaintiff decided to make an Initial Public Offer ("IPO") of shares in the United States of America. The said IPO was an instant and huge success. Consequently, on 12th August, 2010 the plaintiff was listed on the NASDAQ- The United States of America's Stock Exchange.
7. Plaintiff is the registered proprietor of the following marks in India:
Mark Registration No. /Date of Filing Class Use Since Description of Goods/Services Status
“IMAGE” 1447892 /April 25, 2006 39 June 27, 2000 Travel arrangements including in bound and out bound tour packages, holiday packages, booking of seats for travel and travel reservation including flight bookings, bus reservations, railway reservation including flight booking, bus reservations, railway reservations, luxury coach booking, taxi and pleasure boat booking, arranging of cruises, transport packages including tourist transport (passenger) car rentals, coach rentals escorting of travelers, sight seeing information about journe
