Azim Premji, Delhi High Court
Misleading General Public: Delhi High Court Restrains Websites & Apps From Using ‘Premji Invest’ Trademark
|The Delhi High Court said that these malafide and dishonest acts of Defendants as well as unknown persons, would cause potential damage to the reputation and goodwill of the Plaintiffs.
The Delhi High Court has restrained certain websites, domains, and Apps (applications) from using the trademark of ‘Premji Invest’.
Premji Invest was set up in 2006, and over the years, it has supported and helped fund the philanthropic activities of the Azim Premji Foundation.
A Single Bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora held, “The inclusion of the mark PREMJI by Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 as well as unknown persons/Defendant No. 20 on their fake website, fake application and WhatsApp groups; prima facie appears to be identical or deceptively similar to the registered trademarks. The unauthorized use of the names and pictures of the senior management of the Plaintiffs in these groups and circulation of fake documents in the name of the Plaintiffs in these groups substantiates the pleas of fraud alleged in the plaint. On the basis of the documents brought on record, it is evident that if Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 as well as unknown persons/Defendant No. 20 are not restrained from infringing the Plaintiffs registered trademarks, the said Defendants will continue to confuse and mislead the general public to believe that said Defendants are associated with the Plaintiff.”
The Bench added that these malafide and dishonest acts of Defendants as well as unknown persons, would cause potential damage to the reputation and goodwill of the Plaintiffs.
Advocate Anuj Berry appeared for the Plaintiffs while SPC Gaurav Bharathi, Advocates Varun Pathak, and Swati Agarwal appeared for the Defendants.
Brief Facts
A Suit was filed by PI Investment Advisory LLP (Plaintiffs), seeking a decree of permanent and dynamic injunction restraining the Defendants from accessing or operating the fake domain name/website/App using the Plaintiffs’ name in any manner and from dishonestly and illegally cheating the Indian public. As per the Plaintiff’s case, it was established in 2021 and its primary purpose is to manage the investment of Premji Invest group entities through long-term investments across a diverse range of asset classes. Plaintiff No. 2 was a part of the Plaintiffs' group of entities and was the registered proprietor of the trademarks PREMJI INVEST (wordmark) and logo mark, collectively referred to as ‘PI Marks’.
The afore-mentioned mark is a combination of the globally renowned "PREMJI" family name, which is exclusively associated with Azim Hasham Premji and his business, and the word ‘INVEST’, which denotes the nature of their services. The Plaintiff had discovered that various unknown individuals including Defendants were engaging in a deliberate, ongoing and sophisticated scheme to fraudulently misrepresent themselves as Plaintiff No. 1 and members of its senior management to members of the general public in India in order to illegally invite investments and then siphon off the funds of the general public.
Court’s Observations & Directions
The High Court after hearing the contentions of the counsel, observed, “… this Court is of the prima facie opinion that that Plaintiffs have established a case of grant of ex-parte ad-interim injunction in their favour and against the Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 as well as unknown persons/Defendant No. 20. The balance of convenience also lies in favour of the Plaintiffs and irreparable loss would be caused to the Plaintiffs, if the ex-parte ad-interim injunction is not granted at this stage.”
The Court directed that the Defendant websites/domains/entities which are discovered during the proceedings, their employees, agents, representatives, assignees, and all persons acting for or on their behalf, are restrained from infringing the Plaintiffs’ registered trademarks and copyrighted content in any manner whatsoever, including by reproducing the Plaintiffs’ marks/logo/website content in any Fake Website, Fake Domain Name, Fake App, or otherwise.
“The Defendant No. 3 is directed to immediately lock and suspend the domain “Premjiex.com” and "pladadgooogle.org" and any mirror/redirect/alphanumeric variants thereof, and to disclose details of the registrants of Defendant Nos. 1 and 2. … The Defendant No. 6 [Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology] and Defendant No. 7 [Department of Telecommunication] are directed to issue necessary directions to the telecom service providers and internet service providers to block/delete/suspend the access to the Fake App and Fake Website hosted on the impugned domains “Premjiex.com” and "pladadgooogle.org", further directed the Court.
The Court was satisfied in the facts of the case and noted that dynamic injunction ought to be issued to protect the Plaintiff’s registered trademarks and the unsuspecting members of the public from the fraudulent acts of the Defendants as well as unknown persons.
“It is thus further directed mirror/alphanumeric/similar/redirect that if variation any of other the websites/applications, identified in the suit as Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 as well as unknown persons, are found to be directly or indirectly infringing Plaintiff’s rights, the Plaintiffs will be at liberty to communicate; the details of the said websites and/or applications to both DoT and MeitY, for issuance of blocking orders and simultaneously to the concerned DNRs/ISPs for blocking the said websites and also to Google LLC for taking down of said applications from its play store, so as to ensure that these websites/applications can be blocked on a real time basis and there is no considerable delay”, it also ordered.
Accordingly, the High Court listed the case on February 6, 2026 and issued necessary directions against the Defendants.
Cause Title- PI Investment Advisory LLP & Anr. v. Registrant of Premjiex.com & Ors. (Case Number: CS(COMM) 846/2025 & I.A. 19993/2025)
Appearance:
Plaintiffs: Advocates Anuj Berry, Anusha Ramesh, Gauri Pasricha, and Nitya Jain.
Defendants: SPC Gaurav Bharathi, Advocates Varun Pathak, Swati Agarwal, Shashank Mishra, Shivika Mattooa, Rithika Mathur, Rishav Dubey, Srika Selvam, and Harsh Gupta.