Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea To Stall Release Of Alia Bhatt's Movie 'Jigra' Over Alleged Trade Mark Infringement

The Supreme Court on Friday (October 18) refused to entertain a trade mark infringement plea seeking to injunct the use of term 'Jigra' for the Alia Bhatt starrer film which has recently been released in theatres. 

The bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing a challenge to the order of the Rajasthan High Court which lifted a stay imposed by a commercial court, temporarily restraining the release of Alia Bhatt's starer “Jigra”. 

The main contention of the petitioner was that he had a trademark registration for the term “Jigra” in the "field of education and entertainment" which needed protection.

Senior Advocate AM Singhvi appearing for Dharma Productions, pointed out that there was no confusing similarity between the movie 'Jigra' and the petitioner's online teaching centre 'Jigra' as they both belonged to different industrial domains, the former being from the entertainment industry and the other from the education.

"How is it possible for a student of online classes to confuse the movie Jigra with Jigra education?" Singhvi asked.  

The counsel for the petitioner responded, "In online classes, there are videos which are created which are sent across which will have my name in it." 

However, the CJI interjected, pointing out that the videos would be on teaching lessons for maths, physics etc., which had no relation with the film. 

The Court observed that it was not inclined to entertain the matter, especially considering that the movie has already been released. 

The petitioner however, requested to withdraw the petition since the High Court would be soon hearing the matter . 

The bench while dismissing the petition as withdrawn, however refused to give any direction to the High Court to hear the matter solely on merits as urged by the petitioner. 

Background 

A division bench of High Court comprising Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Justice Munnuri Laxman in its interim order dated October 11 said, "As an ad interim measure, the effect and operation of the impugned order dated 08.10.2024 passed by learned Commercial Court No.1, Jodhpur in Civil Misc. Application No.60/2024 in Civil Suit No.100/2024 shall remain stayed, till the next date". 

The order was passed after the film's producer Dharma Productions moved the high court challenging the commercial court's October 8 order which had stayed the release of the film after respondent Bhallaram Choudhary claimed trademark infringement in relation to the title of the movie. The Commercial Court at Jodhpur had granted an interim injunction on the release of the movie pending the adjudication of the matter. 

The bench noted that the final disposal of the stay application would require proper pleadings supported by affidavit, but the same were yet to be completed.

At the threshold the bench took into account three parameters–"prima facie case; irreparable loss, and balance of convenience", and 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 bench thereafter stayed the operation of the commercial court's stay order. It however said that it is conscious of the fact that if any kind of violation is made out, then the appropriate remedy–damages/ monetary compensation, could be granted to the respondent. However, for this, the court said, the appellant production house could not be put to a "financial loss" on account of non-release of the film.

Case Details : BHALLARAM CHOUDHARY Versus DHARMA PRODUCTION PRIVATE LIMITEDSLP(C) No. 24581/2024 

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