Ed-Tech Platforms Can Use Publicly Available Data To Rank Universities If Not Disparaging: Delhi High Court
Universities contended that the rankings reflected on the website were incorrect.
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri, Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court held that ed-tech platforms have the right to rank universities on the basis of publicly available information, so long as the same is not presented in a disparaging manner.
Mangalayatan University and Usha Martin University had moved a Delhi court in Dwarka seeking to restrain Getmyuni from using their information on its website. They contended that the rankings reflected on the website were incorrect.
A Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri held, “The appellant has a right to use publicly available information about the respondents, as long as the same is not disparagingly presented by the appellant.”
Advocate Udian Sharma appeared for the Petitioners, and Advocate Avneet Singh Sikka appeared for the Respondents.
Getmyuni Education Services had approached the High Court challenging injunction orders passed by a Dwarka court restraining it from publishing information about two universities.
In March 2023, the Delhi court passed interim injunction orders directing Getmyuni to take down the material published in relation to the two universities. Aggrieved by the orders, Getmyuni approached the High Court.
Getmyuni submitted that it is an education-technology platform that publishes information about universities and prepares rankings and lists of colleges. The ed-tech start-up stated that it acts in public interest to assist students in choosing colleges for higher studies and that it does not engage in any misrepresentation or claim association with any university.
It further submitted that the rankings displayed on its website are based on information drawn from the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), as well as rankings published by ‘The Week’ and ‘India Today’ magazines.
The High Court noted that Getmyuni had not used publicly available information in a disparaging manner and that the trial court had failed to appreciate this aspect.
“The trial court, while passing the impugned order, has failed to appreciate that there is no evidence to show that the appellant has tinkered with the NIRF rankings, added its own editorial comments on the rankings, or commented on the quality of the services provided by the ranked institutions,” the Court stated.
The High Court rejected the contention of the two universities that the rankings published on Getmyuni’s website were disparaging. It observed that the article clearly referenced rankings available in the public domain and sourced from other platforms.
“It is an unconvincing argument made by the respondent that the rankings per se, shown on the website, are disparaging to its professional reputation when the rankings displayed on the website are referenced to the rankings available in the public domain and are open-sourced,” the Court held.
While setting aside the injunction, the Court also took note of the fact that the universities had not alleged any appropriation of their intellectual property.
Accordingly, the High Court set aside the order passed by the lower court.
Cause Title: M/s Getmyuni Education Services Private Limited v. Mangalayatan University, [2026:DHC:1394]
Appearance:
Petitioners: Advocates Udian Sharma, Jaitegan Singh Khurana, Aarzoo Aneja, Manav Mitra, Subhika Joshi, Sahil Saraswat, and Harsha Sadhwani
Respondents: Advocate Avneet Singh Sikka
