The High Court of Delhi has directed a trading and consultancy firm to pay Rs 10 lakh in damages to Google LLC for misusing its mark and misrepresenting its association with the US tech giant.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula recently observed that defendants ‘Google Enterprises’ misrepresented to the public that they were partners of Google India on the basis of which they also announced a fictitious Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) unit.
It noted that the defendants used to dupe members of the public into believing that they would get a desk job on depositing money with Defendant No. 1 (Google Enterprises) and be employed with an entity supposedly associated with Plaintiff, as was indicated from the KPO unit’s brochure at Ex. PW1/11.
The High Court also directed the Department of Technology (DoT) to block access of the website hosted by the defendants through internet and telecom service providers.
The Single-Judge Bench directed the Defendants to hand over all printed matter, including stationery and brochures bearing the mark/name “GOOGLE” to the authorised representative of the Plaintiff representative(s) for the purpose of destruction.
The US-based tech giant had moved the High Court after coming across certain brochures and news articles in 2011 regarding a collaboration between Google India and Tata Communications for a joint venture named E-Kutir Technology & Extension Management (P) Ltd (Defendant No. 2).
Kutir was stated to be a KPO unit. However, Google refuted the same.
The plaintiff said the marks used by the defendants on their websites were identical to Google’s and the defendants even filed applications with the trademark registry for registration of those marks.
Finding the defendants guilty of infringement and passing off, the Bench observed that Google Enterprises indulged in dishonest use of the plaintiff’s marks.
While disposing of the plea, the High Court noted that defendants 1 to 3 were acting in collusion regarding the websites and continued to operate in complete disregard to the plaintiff’s rights and the interim injunction operating against them.
Google LLC were represented by Advocates Tanya Varma and Coral Shah, however, no one appeared for the defendants.