Delhi HC Grants Interim Relief To Tie Inc In Trademark Infringement Case

Delhi High Court recently granted relief to Tie Inc in a trademark infringement case. The company had approached the High Court against the adoption of the trademarks TIE / TIE GLOBAL / “THE INDIAN ENTREPRENEURS.” The Plaintiff claimed that they are the owner of registered trademarks for “TiE”/ “TiE Global”/ “THE INDUS ENTREPRENEUR” It was argued that the defendant was attempting to dishonestly claim association with their well-known mark and entity. 

It was further argued the plaintiff also obtained the registration of the domain name www.tie.org on 27th April 1995 and has been extensively and continuously using it. Another registration for the domain name www.tieglobalsummit.org was obtained on 17th August 2016 and has been extensively used since then.

The lawyers representing the plaintiff contended that 12,000 members are associated with the plaintiff across 60 organisations in 12 countries making the plaintiff’s trademark a well-known one. The bench of Hon’ble Mr Justice Anish Dayal heard the submissions and granted an interim injunction restraining the defendant from using the offending trademarks and directed the domain name registrant – GoDaddy, to suspend the domain name “www.tieglobal.in”.

The Court was of the opinion that the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for grant of an ex parte ad interim injunction till the next date of hearing.“Balance of convenience lies in favour of the plaintiff, and they are likely to suffer irreparable harm in case the injunction, as prayed for, is not granted", noted Justice Dayal. 

TIE INC was represented by the team of Khaitan & Co-led by Mr Ankur Sangal, Partner and comprising of Mr Ankit Arvind, Senior Associate and Mr Shashwat Rakshit, Associate.