Delhi High Court restrains Capital TV from using marks similar to TV Today's programmes

The Delhi High Court recently restrained online news platform Capital TV from using the marks “TO THE POINT”, “HALLA BOL”, “SPECIAL REPORT”, “BLACK & WHITE”, “KISMAT CONNECTION” or any other that is deceptively similar to news network TV Today’s programmes..Justice Prathiba M Singh directed Capital TV to take down all links relating to these programmes from all the platforms."The Court is of the view that a prima facie case of passing off, trade mark infringement has been made out by the Plaintiff. The balance of convenience lies in the favour of the Plaintiff, and if no injunction is passed at this stage, irreparable harm would be caused to the Plaintiff. Accordingly, the Defendants are restrained from using the logos/marks “TO THE POINT”, “HALLA BOL”, “SPECIAL REPORT”, “BLACK & WHITE”, “KISMAT CONNECTION” or any other mark that is deceptively similar to the Plaintiff’s marks, in respect of news/current affairs programmes,” the Court said..However, Justice 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 combination by Capital TV.The Court said that names of the programs should be clearly differentiable from India Today’s.The Court passed the order while dealing with a plea filed by India Today which moved the Court arguing that Capital TV is running a digital news and current affair platform on its website www.capitaltv.in.It was stated the Capital TV has presence on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter) was producing programs under names identical to India Today’s..The Court examined the programmes and came to a prima facie conclusion that a case of infringement and passing of was made out.It concluded that though 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 Defendants are imitating a number of logos/marks of the Plaintiff in identical/deceptively similar fonts, appearance, & color 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, therefore, granted interim relief in favour of India Today and issued summons on the suit..Advocates Arunabh Chowdhury, Radhika Gupta and Karma Dorjee appeared for TV Today Network..[Read Judgment]