Delhi High Court Restrains Bhopal Publisher From Use Of ‘The Pioneer’ Trademark
The Delhi High Court was considering an application filed on behalf of the publisher of the newspaper “The Pioneer” seeking an ex parte ad interim injunction.
The Delhi High Court has granted relief to CMYK Printech Limited by restraining the Bhopal Publisher Ideal Multi Media Network Private Limited from using ‘The Pioneer’ trademark. On a comparison of both publications, the High Court found unauthorised, illegal adoption and infringement of not only the trademarks but also the copyrights of the original publisher.
The High Court was considering an application filed on behalf of the plaintiff, publisher of the newspaper “The Pioneer”, under Order XXXIX Rules 1 & 2 of CPC, 1908, seeking an ex parte ad interim injunction against the defendant.
The Single Bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela held, “From the aforesaid observations, and the examination of the comparative table above, prima facie, it appears that the defendant is copying/imitating and publishing the contents of the newspaper published by the plaintiff. Having regard to the assertion of the plaintiff, that vide the termination notice dated 17.02.2026, the MoU dated 10.03.2004 has been revoked/terminated, the usage of the trademark “The Pioneer” and the label “ The Pioneer” alongwith the copyrightable news reports and other material published by the plaintiff in its newspaper by the defendants appear to tantamount to unauthorized and illegal adoption and infringement of not only the trademarks but also the copyrights of the plaintiff.”
Advocate Saurav Agrawal represented the Petitioner.
Factual Background
The case as set up by the Plaintiff was that the Delhi Edition was launched sometime in December, 1991 and in 1998, the plaintiff acquired “The Pioneer” from the Thapar Group. Under the acquisition, the plaintiff was vested with the right to curate, print and publish the newspaper. The Plaintiff claimed that the mark “The Pioneer ” is well-known in the field of journalism and the words “The Pioneer” form a distinct and prominent part of the plaintiff’s label mark and are uniquely associated with the plaintiff. In 2004, the plaintiff executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in favour of the defendant to publish “The Pioneer” from Bhopal as the Bhopal Edition, on account of which the defendant was to pay a royalty to the plaintiff for a sum of Rs 2 lakhs per month.
The Plaintiff claimed that despite termination/revocation of the MoU, the defendant continued to violate and infringe the mark “The Pioneer” and the label by continuing to publish the identical news reports/materials which the plaintiff published. According to the plaintiff, the said acts were not only in violation and infringement of its statutory rights under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, but also the statutory and common law rights available to it under the Copyrights Act, 1957. Plaintiff also claimed that the defendant has been taking illegal and unlawful benefits of the goodwill of the plaintiff and simultaneously deceiving the public. It was on such grounds that the plaintiff sought an ex-parte ad interim injunction.
Reasoning
On a comparison of the two publications, the Bench found that the defendant was copying/imitating and publishing the contents of the newspaper published by the plaintiff. The Bench noted that the plaintiff was able to evidence, prima facie, a strong case in its favour. The Bench further took note of the fact that the plaintiff is the registered proprietor of the trademark “The Pioneer” and the label, along with the common law and statutory rights of the copyrightable material. Considering the termination/revocation of the MoU, the Bench held that the balance of convenience tilted in favour of the plaintiff.
“The plaintiff shall suffer irreparable loss and injury, which may not be compensated adequately in monetary terms, in case an ex-parte ad interim injunction is not granted”, it added.
Thus, the Bench restrained the defendant and all others acting on its behalf from reproducing, copying, downloading, extracting, publishing, printing, distributing or in any manner whatsoever exploiting the plaintiff’s copyrighted newspaper “The Pioneer”, including its content, articles, layout, format, compilation, photographs and design.
Cause Title: CMYK Printech Limited v. Ms Ideal Multi Media Network Private Limited (Case No.: CS(COMM) 338/2026)
Appearance
Petitioner: Advocates Saurav Agrawal, Asan Rajan, Ajay Sharma, Vikash Tomar, Devang Shrotriya, Kashish Chadha, Harsh Khabar