Bombay High Court to hear trademark infringement suit by PhonePe after Diwali break

Flipkart owned company PhonePe Private Limited has filed a suit before the Bombay High Court claiming infringement of their registered trademark 'PHONEPE' by Resilient Innovations Pvt Ltd..PhonePe has alleged that Resilient is engaged in identical field of digital payment services to customers through mobile application 'PostPe'.They claimed that PostPe was in blatant infringement and was passing off of PhonePe's mark..In its suit filed through law firm J. Sagar Associates, PhonePe claimed that while opposition to the registration of trademarks for PostPe is pending, Resilient went ahead and launched their mobile application PostPe. ."Resilient has infringed its statutory rights. They have made unlawful gains at PhonePe's expense. By carrying on in this illicit and unauthorised fashion, Resilient has severely prejudiced PhonePe's business prospects and further diluted and tarnished its name," the plea stated.Visually, structurally and phonetically the PostPe marks and PhonePe marks are indistinguishable, it was submitted..PhonePe further claimed that it will suffer irreparable harm and injury leading to dilution of exclusive proprietary rights and goodwill in their trademarks.They also added that "monetary compensation alone would not be sufficient to redress the continuing harm resulting from infringement.. There is no reason as to how and why either in equity or under the statute, Resilient should be permitted to continue the use of PhonePe marks"..The interim application in the suit was moved before the vacation judge Justice SJ Kathawalla for urgent reliefs. The matter was adjourned and will now be heard after the Court reopens next week post Diwali break. .This is the second time PhonePe has approached High Court against the same company seeking protection of its registered mark. .PhonePe had filed a suit last month against Resilient claiming infringement of the ‘-pe‘ suffix by PostPe..The High Court had noted that the two parties had been at loggerheads over the suffix trademark infringement most notably in Delhi High Court where PhonePe unsuccessfully sued the defendants over introduction of service under the mark 'BHARATPE'..The Bombay High Court refused to grant relief after it noted that PhonePe has no registration of the word mark PE per se. It has a label or device mark with the Devanagari word PE."If the Plaintiff has no exclusivity over the mark PE, I do not see how it can claim this exclusivity indirectly in paragraph after paragraph of the Plaint," the Court had recorded in the order of October 22, 2021. .While the order was being dictated, PhonePe had through its counsel sought leave to withdraw the suit with liberty to file a fresh suit restricting the claim to mark PhonePe as a whole. The Court also granted liberty to Resilient to "rely on the present plaint and the order in opposition to fresh suit to contend that PhonePe has taken different stands at different time and in different courts.".After withdrawing the suit, PhonePe filed the present suit restricting the claim to the mark PHONEPE taken as a whole..Senior Advocate Venkatesh Dhond along with advocates Hiren Kamod, Monish Jha, Anjali A, Yohaann Limathwalla, Ahsan Allana briefed by JSA appeared for PhonePe. Senior Advocate Gaurav Pachnanda and advocate Ashish Kamat briefed by Khaitan & Co. appeared for Resilient.