Bombay High Court passes John Doe order to take down unauthorised websites providing PAN card services

The Bombay High Court on January 12 passed a John Doe order directing take down of unauthoried websites providing PAN card related services online [UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services Limited v. Extra Tech World and Ors.]..John Doe orders are blanket cease and desist injunctions that are issued against anonymous entities. They are usually passed in suits involving infringement of intellectual property rights since it is often practically impossible to track down every infringing party.Single-judge Justice Bharati Dangre passed the order after government authorised UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services Limited (UTIITSL) filed a copyright infringement suit seeking to restrain John Doe companies and 13 known companies from passing off UTIITSL registered mark as their own. UTIITSL sought urgent orders claiming that their work was of national importance. .The Court agreed to pass urgent order without giving a hearing to the defendant websites. It opined that letting unauthorised websites continue their operations could result in leak of confidential information. “On consideration of the necessary information provided in the application, UTIITSL deserves an ad-interim ex-parte order even without service, as it is impossible to track all the defendants and effect service upon them; and with the fake websites being continued to be active, it would cause irreparable damage and severe compromise of valuable confidential data of the plaintiff and also pose a threat at a national level,” the judge held. .Therefore, Justice Dangre ordered the companies to take down offending websites and disable offending/ unauthorised domains. The Court also directed the concerned police stations to extend assistance to UTIITSL to execute the present order. .UTIITSL filed the suit seeking a permanent injunction and restraining order against the defendants from infringing its registered copyright and acts of passing off various registered marks and labels owned by UTIITSL. Their primary contention was that the defendant-companies were falsely representing their websites to be authorised by UTIITSL to provide services concerning issuance of PAN card. .UTIITSL emphasized that it was authorized by the Income Tax Department for processing PAN card and related services including issuance of identification documents like Aadhaar car, voter ID, driving license, etc since 2003.It claimed its service was exclusive in nature and valid till March 2024. UTIITSL sought proactive orders to protect its mark and label to mitigate the substantial and potential monetary loss along with loss of reputation and goodwill being caused to it through the illegal acts of the defendants. .Advocates Rashmin Khandekar, Anand Mohan, Vijay Purohit, Pratik Jhaveri, Nikita Bangera, Faizan M Mithaiwala and Samkit Jain briefed by P & A Law Offices appeared for UTIITSL. [Read order]