The court affirmed that domain names can be protected as trademarks, and emphasized the importance of fiduciary duties and transparency in partnerships.

1. The game of dice which led to an epic battle of Kurukshetra has not deterred generations after generations irrespective of ancient or modern to pursue gambling whether we may ensconce it with a game of skill in order justify its legality and to give legal recognition although the result might be ruinous.

2. The game of poker which apparently appears to be demonstrably gambling as one of its kind has triggered off the present litigation between two groups who were hunky - dory until September, 2016.

3. The defendant No.7 was desirous of launching an Online Poker business which the said defendant could not do from its office at Maharashtra since the local laws of Maharashtra do not permit poker gaming. The West Bengal Gambling and Prize Competitions Act, 1957 in Clause 2(b) defines gaming or gambling to exclude Poker, Rummy or Nap and hence this State has been chosen for launching a webpage "Spartanpoker.com" to carry on the Poker gaming business.

4. The petitioners say that the petitioners have expertise in poker gaming and on being approached by the respondent Nos.2 to 5 to launch poker gaming at Calcutta, the plaintiff No.1 contributed his skill, expertise and capital for development of the said game under the domain name "spartanpoker.com". The plaintiffs have disclosed documents to show that the said domain was purchased by the plaintiff No.1 and the said plaintiff No.1 is having a valid registration as of date. The plaintiff No.1 claims to be the Co - founder and the CEO of the India's oldest, largest and most successful poker media brand, "Pokerguru" and being successfully ventured into both live and online arenas of poker through the Pokerguru Online League and Pokerguru Tour creating benchmarks in the respective fields. The petitioner No.1 claims that he was instrumental in setting up the website, www.pokerguru.in which has been disseminating information on poker games and tournaments both online and live since 2009. The said Pokerguru.in was taken over subsequently by the petitioner No.3 in or around 2011. The petitioner No.3 is wholly owned and controlled by the petitioner Nos.1 and 2 and their family members.

5. The respondent No.4 used to run a live poker tournament series under the name and style of "Aces Unlimited" which he later discontinued. In or around 2013, he joined hands with the respondent Nos.2 and 3 in the aforesaid India Poker Championship. While the petitioners were primarily established in the online segment of the game, the respondents were established in holding live poker events. The plaintiffs say that the parties realized that online gaming has huge potential in India and explored the possibility of joining hands to use their respective strengths and expertise to promote online poker gaming in India. The petitioners alleged that on 20th March, 2014, the petitioner and respondent Nos. 2 to 5 decided to leverage their respective expertise in online and live poker to join hands to set up an online live poker game site in partnership together with the respondent No.6 and in furtherance thereof on 22nd June, 2014, an agreement was entered into between the plaintiffs and the defendant Nos.2 to