"Not Trading In That Name": Rajasthan HC Stays Interim Injunction Order Against Release of Movie 'Jigra' In Trademark Dispute

The Rajasthan High Court has stayed the order granting a temporary injunction against the release of the new movie 'Jigra'.

The Court was dealing with an appeal filed by Dharma Production seeking a stay of the order by the Commercial Court, whereby an interim injunction against the release of the movie was granted.

A division bench of Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Justice Munnuri Laxman observed, "...this Court is prima facie convinced that the name of the movie in question would not infringe the trademark rights of the goods and services. Moreover, the appellant is not trading in the name of 'Jigra', rather it is M/s. Dharma Production Private Limited. Thus, the goods and services rendered by Dharma Production Private Limited by naming a movie as 'Jigra' cannot be said to be an infringement of trademark laws".

The appellant was represented by Senior Advocate Vikas Balia while the respondent was represented by Senior Advocate R.N. Mathur.

A commercial court in Jodhpur, on October 8 had passed an order granting interim injunction against the release of the movie on an application filed by one Bhallaram Choudhary for alleged trademark infringement. He had contended that since he had trademark registration of "Jigra" in the field of education and entertainment, it needed to be protected against infringement that the movie would inflict. It was argued that the release of the movie will impact the business of the respondent which is a registered production house. He submitted that unless protection is granted, the commercial rights of the respondent will remain infringed upon.

On the other hand, the Senior Advocate appearing for the production house submitted that the appellant is not conducting any trade in goods and services so as to amount violation under the Trademarks Act by naming the movie.

The Court agreed with the appellant's submission so as to imply that only the names of production houses can be used to make parallels with respect to infringement of trademark rights and not that of movie produced by them.

The Court said it is convinced that the name of the movie in question would not infringe the trademark rights of the goods and services.

The Court therefore stayed the injunction order.

Cause Title: Dharma Production Pvt. Ltd. through CEO Apporva Mehta vs. Bhallaram Chaudhary

Appearances: 

For Appellant: Senior Advocate Vikas Balia, Advocates Abhilasha Bora, Akanksha Choudhary, Khushbu Choudhary, Vikas Siddhawat, Mitakshi, and Prithvi Singh

For Respondent: Senior Advocate R.N. Mathur, Advocates Falgun Buch, O.P. Mehta, V.D. Gaur, Gopal Krishna Chhangani, Simran Mehta

Click here to read/ download order