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DELHI HIGH COURT
C.HARI SHANKAR
Phonepe Private Limited – Appellant
Versus
Ezy Services – Respondent
| Table of Content |
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| 1. infringement of trademarks and passing off is alleged. (Para 1 , 2 , 3) |
| 2. rival parties' arguments and contentions presented. (Para 4 , 5 , 6) |
| 3. court's analysis on the likelihood of confusion in trademarks. (Para 9 , 10 , 11 , 18) |
| 4. rules on distinctiveness and secondary meaning in trademark law. (Para 21 , 22 , 26) |
| 5. final ruling dismissing the plaintiff's request for injunction. (Para 71 , 72 , 73 , 74) |
JUDGMENT
I.A. 8084/2019 in CS(COMM) 292/2019
1. The plaintiff and the defendants provide online payment services via their Applications ("Apps", in short). By downloading the Applications, it is possible to effect payments using the services of the plaintiff/defendants, across the internet. The defendants' services are available exclusively to merchants, whereas the plaintiff's services are available to anyone who downloads the App.
2. The plaintiff and the defendants use the marks "PhonePe" and "BharatPe" respectively. The plaintiff alleges that the mark used by the defendants, as well as the use of the word "BharatPe" itself, infringes the plaintiff's registered trademark and also amounts to passing off, by the defendants, of the services provided by them
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The plaintiff must satisfy all the ingredients for claiming temporary injunction, including prima facie case, irreparable loss, and balance of convenience. The plaintiff's stand before different cour....
Distinctiveness in trademark law must be assessed concerning the goods or services; common terms can acquire distinctiveness based on usage, thus allowing for a prima facie case of infringement.
The court found that despite phonetic similarity, the distinctiveness of trade marks and differences in intended consumer bases negate the likelihood of confusion and passing off.
The court ruled that the marks 'BundlePe' and 'LatePe' are not deceptively similar to 'PhonePe', as 'Pe' is a common term in the payment industry, and the plaintiff failed to establish distinctivenes....
Generic and descriptive terms in trademarks cannot be exclusively claimed, and likelihood of confusion must be assessed holistically from the average consumer's perspective.
The court emphasized likelihood of consumer confusion in trademark law, holding that similar marks can infringe established trademarks regardless of differences in service or field, thus supporting t....
The court established that the rights of the prior user of a trademark are superior to those of a subsequent user, emphasizing the elements of goodwill, misrepresentation, and damage in passing off c....
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