Delhi High Court Rules In Favour Of Taj Hotels In Trademark Infringement Suit Against 'Taj Iconic'
The Delhi High Court has ruled in favour of Indian Hotels Company, which owns the Taj hotels chain, in a trademark infringement suit filed by it against a man running a business under the name “Taj Iconic Membership.”
Justice Mini Pushkarna awarded Rs. 10 lakh damages and Rs. 5 lakh costs in favour of the Taj group and decreed the suit against the individual, Manoj.
The suit claimed that in 2022, Manoj's representative contacted Taj's representative, asking them whether they were interested in doing business with him.
The Indian Hotels Company's representatives were then invited for a meeting with Manoj. The suit said that Taj was shocked to learn that the man was misusing its registered trademark “TAJ” as part of his business name, domain www.tajiconicmembership.com, website, email ID etc.
In October 2022, an ex parte ad interim injunction was granted in favour of Taj and the man was restrained from using the mark „TAJ‟ as part of his corporate name, including the domain name.
Decreeing the suit, the court said that the Indian Hotel Company was able to establish its goodwill and reputation in the mark “Taj”. It added that the man had unauthorizedly used Taj's marks, as well as various content and photographs.
“Accordingly, it is clear that the action of the defendant in adopting the plaintiff‟s marks, photographs and content, is malafide, deliberate, and intentional and thus, constitutes infringement. The defendant‟s infringing activity is bound to cause confusion in the minds of the unwary consumers, who will assume the defendant‟s services and packages to have originated from the plaintiff,” the court said.
It added that the defendant's acts had the effect of inducing the consumers and members of the trade to falsely believe that he had a direct nexus or affiliation with Taj.
“Further, the fraudulent and illegal trade activities of the defendant has also the effect of causing incalculable harm and injury to the business, goodwill and reputation associated with the plaintiff‟s associated mark,” the court said.
Title: THE INDIAN HOTELS COMPANY LIMITED v. MANOJ