CS (COMM) 59/2020

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*

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Reserved on: 10.11.2022

Date of decision: 25.11.2022

+

CS(COMM) 59/2020 & I.A.1688/2020

SPORTA TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD. & ANR. ..... Plaintiffs

Through:

Mr.Prithvi

Singh,

Mr.Rohan

Krishna Sethi and Ms.Parkhi Rai,

Advs.

versus

VIRAT SAXENA

..... Defendant

Through:

None.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAVIN CHAWLA

1. The present suit has been filed seeking a decree of permanent

injunction restraining the defendant, its proprietor, employees, partners,

representatives and/or others acting for and on their behalf from using the

mark ‘Dream11’ or any deceptively similar variant thereof, as a trade

mark, trade name or domain name www.dream11.bet or on social media,

email addresses or in any other manner, which amounts to the

infringement of and/or passing off the plaintiffs’ trade marks as listed in

the

plaint,

such

as

‘Dream11/

/

/

/

’

(hereinafter

referred

to

as

‘Dream11 Marks’).

Digitally Signed By:RENUKA

NEGI

Signing Date:28.11.2022

17:11:34

Signature Not Verified

CS (COMM) 59/2020

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FACTUAL BACKGROUND

2. The plaintiff no. 1 is a private limited company incorporated on

21.06.2007 and later underwent a change of name from ‘Adwaiya

Realtors Private Limited’ to ‘Dream11 Fantasy Private Limited’ in the

year 2013. The plaintiff no. 2 is a company incorporated under the laws

of the State of Delaware, the United States of America. The plaintiff no.

1 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the plaintiff no. 2.

3. The plaintiffs’ fantasy sports platform under the trade mark/trade

name ‘Dream11’ (adopted in the year 2012), is an online multi-player

game where the participants draft imaginary and virtual teams of real

players of a professional sport. The teams so drafted get points based on

the performance of the players in actual games, where the underlying

real-world games provide statistics for the virtual teams so created and

the players earn points based on these statistics. The top teams of each

contest are rewarded monetarily from a Prize Pool, where the amount

won can be withdrawn by a participant from their verified Bank Account,

subject to the submission of their Permanent Account Number and its due

verification.

4. The plaintiffs have been the ‘Official Fantasy Partners’ of all

International Cricket Council (in short, ‘ICC’) events starting from the

year 2018, wherein their website/mobile application bearing the

‘Dream11 Marks’ have been partners for events such as the Vivo Indian

Premier League (in short, ‘IPL’), KFC BBL, Hero CPL T20, NBA, Vivo

Pro Kabaddi, International Hockey Federation, Hero Indian Super

League and T20 Mumbai.

Digitally Signed By:RENUKA

NEGI

Signing Date:28.11.2022

17:11:34

Signature Not Verified

CS (COMM) 59/2020

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5. The plaintiffs have signed a Central Sponsorship contract with the

Board of Cricket Control of India (in short, ‘BCCI’) for the IPL for four

years, starting in the year 2019. The plaintiffs also have a long-term

‘Official Fantasy Sports Provider’ deal with the ICC for all the

tournaments, which were particularly widespread during the ICC Men’s

Cricket World Cup 2019. For both tournaments, the plaintiffs organised

daily contests and season-long fantasy games for fan engagement

utilizing their services bearing the ‘Dream11 Marks’.

6. The services of the plaintiffs bearing the ‘Dream11 Marks’ have

been promoted by eminent Indian cricketers such as Mahendra Singh

Dhoni, Harsha Bhogle, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh

Karthik and Ajinkya Rahane; as also international players such as AB De

Villiers, Andre Russell, Kane Williamson and Ben Stokes.

7. As on the date of filing of the Suit, it is the contention of the

plaintiffs that their online and mobile platform bearing the ‘Dream11

Marks’ have over 7.5 Crore subscribers, who use the platform to

participate in various fantasy ga