Trademark case: HT Media wins against US-based company

HT Media Limited, the publisher of Hindustan Times, and its subsidiary Hindustan Media Ventures Limited, publisher of the Hindi-language daily Hindustan, secured interim relief in a trademark case against US-based Brainlink International Inc., with the Delhi high court restraining the latter from using the domain name www.hindustan.com or any other mark similar to “Hindustan and “Hindustan Times”.

In an order passed on April 28, the HC also barred Brainlink from creating any third-party rights with respect to the domain name until the next hearing.

The high court has directed the domain registrar to block the name. Brainlink admitted to not using the domain name since 2000, but had blocked it .

Brainlink offered to sell the domain name to HT Media “at an exorbitant price” in an unsuccessful attempt, according to the case made out against the firm.

The court observed that the firm’s bad faith could be inferred from the extortionist price quoted for the sale of the trademark and that HT’s “goodwill spills over Internationally” to other countries. Brainlink also filed a suit in New York Court to prevent HT from availing further legal remedies. The suit was an attempt to legitimise the alleged infringement,HT said, and made a prima facie case for an anti-suit injunction before HC.

(This report has been updated to reflect that the high court's injunction was an interim relief)