Oct 23, 20202 min
The Delhi High Court, granting interim injunction in favour of Times Now has restrained Republic TV from using the Trademark News Hour but allowed using "Nation wants to know" as tagline.
The Defendants have filed trade mark applications for registration of the mark NATION WANTS TO KNOW, ARNAB GOSWAMI NEWSHOUR, GOSWAMI NEWSHOUR SUNDAY, etc. claiming proprietary rights. The Defendants No.2 in the written statement have pleaded that viewers of news channels belonging to the plaintiff and defendant No. 3 are well informed, literate and can never associate or confuse between the shows or programmes aired on the respective news channels. (Defendant No. 1 is the company which has filed the impugned trade mark applications which are subject matter of the present dispute. Defendant No. 2 being the Managing Director of defendant No. 3 company and is said to be involved in the same business of media and broadcasting as that of the plaintiff)
The court said that "In order to popularize the said programme ‘THE NEWSHOUR’, the plaintiff invested its resources to generate strategies, concepts, implement segments and formulate catch lines/titles. During such creative efforts by the plaintiff the catch line/tagline/title NATION WANTS TO KNOW was created for and on behalf of the plaintiff. They pleaded that this tagline was coined and developed by the then editorial and marketing team of the plaintiff as key words to be used during the discussions and debates conducted on the NEWSHOUR programme. It is stated that on account of usage of the tagline primarily as a part of the programme, the same has acquired goodwill and distinctiveness indicative of the programme originating from the plaintiff in the eyes of the viewers of the channel. The tagline NATION WANTS TO KNOW is a coined mark and is inherently creative."
The court further added that if the defendants' trade mark is deceptively similar to that of the plaintiff, mere addition of a word by the defendants to the trade mark is of no consequence and the plaintiff is entitled to succeed in its action for infringement of its trade mark.
While placing reliance on the judgments of the Supreme Court in the case of Kavi Raj Pandit Durga Dutt Sharma vs. N.P. Laboratories, AIR 1965 SC 980 and the judgment of a Coordinate Bench of this court in the case of Procter & Gamble Co. Vs. Joy Creators & ors., 2011( 45) PTC 541 (Del.) the Plaintiffs pleaded that the plaintiff’s trade mark/tagline "NATION WANTS TO KNOW" is based on distinctiveness, goodwill and reputation of the plaintiff on account of its use since 2006 for goods/services in relation to television broadcast.