Interim Relief To TV Today, Delhi High Court Restrains Capital TV From Using ‘To The Point’ & ‘Special Report’ Marks For News Programmes

The Delhi High Court has restrained Capital TV news channel from using “To The Point”, “Halla Bol”, “Special Report”, “Black & White” and “Kismat Connection” in a trademark infringement suit filed by TV Today Network which runs India Today and Aaj Tak news channels.

Justice Prathiba M Singh clarified that the individual words by themselves, which are part of the common parlance in Hindi and English language, could be used in a different manner or in conjunction with other combinations in a way that Capital TV’s programs of are clearly differentiable from TV Today’s programmes.

The court directed Capital TV to take down all links relating to its programmes using the said marks on any online platform.

It added that in case of failure, TV Today shall communicate the URLs to the respective platforms, which shall take them down within 72 hours, as long as the names of the programmes are identical.

“If any of the programmes with the impugned names are found on the Twitter/X, the same shall be informed by ld. Counsel for Plaintiff to the ld. Counsel for X. The said online platforms shall take down the impugned URLs within a period of 72 hours after receiving the communication from the Plaintiff,” the court said.

It was TV Today’s case that the names were copied from its television channels by Capital TV and the same cannot be used as they are original names coined by it for its news programmes.

Passing an interim injunction order, the court observed that TV Today’s television channels are quite popular and that some of the programmes are being curated and produced in a particular manner. It added that the names of the programmes have also been assigned on the basis of type of content.

“Though the specific words used for the news programme may themselves not be capable of being monopolized, the combination marks can be protected if they have acquired a secondary significance,” the court said.

It added that Capital TV was imitating a number of logos or marks of TV Today in an identical or deceptively similar fonts, appearance and colour scheme.

“The fact that the names have been clearly picked from various television programmes of the Plaintiff would show that the intention of Defendant No.1 is either to pass off its programmes as that of the Plaintiff or to claim some connection or affiliation with the Plaintiff,” the court said.

Counsel for Plaintiff: Mr. Arunabh Chowdhury, Ms. Radhika Gupta & Mr. Karma Dorjee

Counsel for Defendants: Ms. Mamta Rani Jha, Mr. Rohan Ahuja, Ms. Shruttima Ehersa, Mr. Vatsalya Vishal, Ms. Amishi Sodani, Mr. Rahul Choudhary, Advs. for D-3. Mr. Deepak Gogia and Mr. Aadhar Nautiyal, Advs. for D-5.

Title: TV TODAY NETWORK LIMITED v. CAPITAL TV AND ORS.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 973

Click Here To Read Order