The Delhi High Court recently directed Google LLC to suspend URLs of certain Google forms seeking invitations for a Starbucks franchise. Notably, Starbucks does not operate on a franchise model in India.
Justice Anish Dayal observed that Starbucks was entitled to relief on account of the forms being posted by imposters to elicit private information and data from the general public.
The Delhi High Court ordered that the plaintiffs would be entitled to the relief they seek in this application, on account of not only that these Google Forms are being posted by imposters in order to elicit information relating to Starbucks franchise but also for seeking private information and data from the general public, which cannot be countenanced.
The Delhi High Court was hearing an application in a trademark and copyright infringement suit by Starbucks against unknown john doe. The court in April 2023 had passed an interim injunction in favour of the coffee chain. Nonetheless, after certain entities were found impersonating Starbucks franchisees through Google forms, it moved an application to have the URLs to the forms suspended.
Reportedly, the imposters were circulating Google Forms which had the heading as Starbucks franchise and mentions that one can apply on the form to get more information about taking a franchise of Starbucks.
Advocate Rima Majumdar and Advocate Shilpi Sinha appearing for Starbucks stated that the imposters were seeking information from the general public to apply for Starbucks franchise opportunities, which do not exist in India. Meanwhile, Advocates Neel Mason, Vihan Dang and Ujjawal Bhargava representing Google LLC stated that they had no issue with the relief sought, as long as the URLs which were listed by Starbucks related to the subject matter of the suit.
Advocate Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, Advocate Srish Kumar Mishra, Advocate Alexander Mathai Paikaday and Krishnan V appeared for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology while Advocate Chhavi Arora represented National Internet Exchange of India.