Trademark infringement: Bombay High Court passes John Doe order directing Meta, others to remove videos against Patanjali

The Bombay High Court recently passed a John Doe order directing Meta and all others to take down defamatory videos which allegedly infringed the registered trademark of Patanjali Food [Patanjali Foods Limited v. Meta Platforms Inc & Ors.]..Single-judge Justice Manish Pitale also restrained Meta platforms by way of temporary injunction from circulating videos which Patanjali had objected to in its suit alleging infringement of its trademark ‘Mahakosh’, an edible oil product manufactured by it..Patanjali approached the Court aggrieved by a video circulating on Facebook containing disparaging remarks against the product. Patanjali sought urgent reliefs claiming that the videos would continue to hurt its reputation. “The video not only infringes Patanjali’s registered trademark but it has the effect of spreading misleading and false information and impression in the minds of the general public with regard to the product bearing the registered trademark,” the company claimed..The court was informed that Patanjali owned the registered trademark since 1998 and had garnered substantial goodwill. Patanjali came across the videos uploaded on Meta’s platforms - Facebook and Whatsapp - in April 2023. It noticed that a particular community was spreading the misinformation with a call to boycott the product. Patanjali issued cease and desist notices to Meta platforms, but received no response. This compelled it to approach the High Court..After examining the material, the Court was satisfied that prima facie the ingredients of Section 29 (infringement of registered trade marks) was made out. “The contents of the video in question, available an Meta platforms prima facie appears to have infringed upon the registered trademark of Patanjali. A strong prima facie case is indeed made out for granting ad-interim reliefs in favour of Patanjali,” the cCurt held. In view of this, the Court passed an order of temporary injunction restraining Meta platforms from infringing on Patanjali’s registered trademarks, including ‘Mahakosh’. .Advocates Prathamesh Kamat, Nakul Jain, Kayush and Apoorv Srivastava appeared for Patanjali.Advocates Shailesh Poria, Hrishikesh Shukla and Rahul G briefed by Economic Law Practice appeared for Google LLC. [Read Order]