Times Now today approached the Delhi High Court against the use of the phrase “The Nation Wants to Know” by its former star anchor Arnab Goswami on his own news network Republic TV..Appearing for Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. (owner of Times Now), Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayyar submitted that Arnab has launched a new show altogether called “The Nation Wants to Know”, wherein he interviews people. His first guests have been Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath..Nayyar stated that this is a clear case of passing off as the phrase in question has been in use by Times Now since Jan, 2013..“We have been consistently using the phrase for a very long time.”.Appearing for Republic, Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi raised an issue concerning the maintainability of the application. He contended that the initial suit filed by Times Now alleging infringement of intellectual property did not have any claims regarding use of phrases like “Newshour” and “Nation Wants to Know.”.The Single Judge Bench of Justice Manmohan observed that an action of passing off shall only lie if the public feels that the two entities are somehow connected. However, the judge said, there is so much competition and bitterness between the two that there is no question of Arnab riding on the reputation of Times Now by using these phrases..“Passing off is impossible. Nobody would believe that Times Now and Republic are associated with each other in any way.” .The Court also observed that the viewers of these channels are educated and nuanced, who understand very well that the two channels are different..With respect to the title “Newshour”, Justice Manmohan brought up the examples of BBC and PBS, saying that these networks have been using the said title since the 1970s. He asked whether Times Now intends to go after them as well..Nayyar replied that they would certainly take offence when an ex-employee uses such phrases on another show..Justice Manmohan retorted by saying that employers are suppose to be magnanimous. He also gave the example of the separation between Rajat Sharma and Zee News..“Rajat Sharma used to host a show called “Janta Ki Adalat” while he was with Zee. After leaving the network, he changed the title to “Aap Ki Adalat” and is still going strong. Zee did not go after him alleging passing off. You are giving Arnab more publicity by filing such applications.”.The judge jokingly said that a lot of phrases are used in daily life. For example, lawyers use the phrase “Please, Your Lordship” multiple times, but that does not mean that they should be prevented from doing so..Finally, the court observed that such applications amount to going a little overboard and asked Nayyar to advise his client to act reasonably, otherwise it would not be good for the industry as well as the people..“In the previous hearing, I asked Mr. Sethi to advise his client (Arnab Goswami) to tone down the rhetoric and to my mind he has been successful in doing so.”.Nayyar did not press for an injuction. However, he submitted that BCCL would want the Court to further analyze the situation. The Court issued notice to Republic and asked them to file a reply within four weeks.
Times Now today approached the Delhi High Court against the use of the phrase “The Nation Wants to Know” by its former star anchor Arnab Goswami on his own news network Republic TV..Appearing for Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. (owner of Times Now), Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayyar submitted that Arnab has launched a new show altogether called “The Nation Wants to Know”, wherein he interviews people. His first guests have been Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath..Nayyar stated that this is a clear case of passing off as the phrase in question has been in use by Times Now since Jan, 2013..“We have been consistently using the phrase for a very long time.”.Appearing for Republic, Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi raised an issue concerning the maintainability of the application. He contended that the initial suit filed by Times Now alleging infringement of intellectual property did not have any claims regarding use of phrases like “Newshour” and “Nation Wants to Know.”.The Single Judge Bench of Justice Manmohan observed that an action of passing off shall only lie if the public feels that the two entities are somehow connected. However, the judge said, there is so much competition and bitterness between the two that there is no question of Arnab riding on the reputation of Times Now by using these phrases..“Passing off is impossible. Nobody would believe that Times Now and Republic are associated with each other in any way.” .The Court also observed that the viewers of these channels are educated and nuanced, who understand very well that the two channels are different..With respect to the title “Newshour”, Justice Manmohan brought up the examples of BBC and PBS, saying that these networks have been using the said title since the 1970s. He asked whether Times Now intends to go after them as well..Nayyar replied that they would certainly take offence when an ex-employee uses such phrases on another show..Justice Manmohan retorted by saying that employers are suppose to be magnanimous. He also gave the example of the separation between Rajat Sharma and Zee News..“Rajat Sharma used to host a show called “Janta Ki Adalat” while he was with Zee. After leaving the network, he changed the title to “Aap Ki Adalat” and is still going strong. Zee did not go after him alleging passing off. You are giving Arnab more publicity by filing such applications.”.The judge jokingly said that a lot of phrases are used in daily life. For example, lawyers use the phrase “Please, Your Lordship” multiple times, but that does not mean that they should be prevented from doing so..Finally, the court observed that such applications amount to going a little overboard and asked Nayyar to advise his client to act reasonably, otherwise it would not be good for the industry as well as the people..“In the previous hearing, I asked Mr. Sethi to advise his client (Arnab Goswami) to tone down the rhetoric and to my mind he has been successful in doing so.”.Nayyar did not press for an injuction. However, he submitted that BCCL would want the Court to further analyze the situation. The Court issued notice to Republic and asked them to file a reply within four weeks.