Introduction:

The Delhi High Court has issued a significant John Doe order in favor of The Indian Hotels Company Limited, part of the TATA group, restraining various unknown fraudulent websites from unauthorized use of its registered trademark “Ginger” for hotel bookings. Justice Sanjeev Narula granted an ex-parte ad interim injunction, highlighting the deliberate and fraudulent conduct of the defendant entities aimed at deceiving customers and tarnishing the plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation.

Arguments:

The Indian Hotels Company filed a trademark infringement suit against various unknown persons operating fraudulent websites using the “Ginger” trademark for hotel bookings without authorization. The plaintiff’s counsel argued that these websites deceived customers by offering reservation services for accommodations at its hotels, causing harm to the plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation. In response, counsel for the respondents contended against the ex-parte ad interim injunction, presenting arguments to defend the alleged unauthorized use of the trademark and copyrighted photographs of GINGER Hotel properties.

Court’s Judgement:

Justice Narula issued a summons and granted an ex-parte ad interim injunction, restraining the defendant entities from using the plaintiff’s trademarks and copyrighted photographs. The court directed the suspension of access to the domain names of the impugned websites and ordered the blocking of these websites. Additionally, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, and ICICI Bank were instructed to freeze or suspend operations of the respective bank accounts associated with the UPI IDs linked to the impugned websites.