Delhi HC Restrains An Unauthorised Group Offering Financial Investment Tips From Using Network18 Trademark “MONEYCONTROL” Citing The Potential Of Misleading Unwary Customers
|The Delhi High Court restrained an unauthorised group offering financial investment tips claiming to be affiliated to E-Eighteen.com Ltd from using the trademark ‘MONEYCONTROL” and its variations citing the potential of misleading unwary customers.
Eighteen.com Ltd is a part of the Network18 group of companies, is a financial news and information services company that uses the trademark "MONEYCONTROL" for its services.
The bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula observed, “…are restrained from using the Plaintiffs’ trademarks “MONEYCONTROL”, “ ”, “MONEYCONTROL+”, “MONEYCONTROL PLUS” “ ”, “moneycontrol.com”, other formative marks or any other deceptively similar mark, that would amount to infringement or passing off of Plaintiff’s registered trademark…….the potential of misleading unwary customers, creating confusion and defrauding the public by making false claims of affiliation with the Plaintiff. The documents on record prima facie demonstrate that Defendants No. 1 to 21 are infringing the Plaintiff’s registered “moneycontrol” trademarks.”
Brief Facts-
The Plaintiff, E- Eighteen.com Ltd provided its services to the public through its website “www.moneycontrol.com”, mobile applications, and social media channels. Plaintiff has obtained registrations for the trademark "Moneycontrol" and its variations, including "Moneycontrol+", "Moneycontrol Plus", and "moneycontrol.com" in various classes relating to financial affairs, digital platforms and applications for finance, etc.
Plaintiff received complaints related to unsolicited messages sent to the public by Defendants who claimed to be employees of Plaintiff. They invited people to join the WhatsApp group titled “CINV- The Premier Strategy Group” or its variations for stock market trading tips, insights, etc.
Hence, the present suit by the plaintiff for the use of moneycontrol trademark by defendants who are falsely claiming themselves to be affiliated with the Plaintiff and offering financial investment tips.
The Court after going through the documents presented to it stated that Defendants are unauthorisedly using the Plaintiff’s registered mark “moneycontrol” and other formative trademarks, on the pretext of providing financial investment services, in an attempt to mislead and confuse the public regarding the source of these services.
The Court after giving some directions as to the concerned mobile numbers, listed the matter for the next hearing.
Cause Title: E-Eighteen.com Ltd v. Krishnaa @Jagtar Singh
Appearance:
Adv. Abhilasha Nautiyal