Delhi High Court: A suit was filed by the plaintiff having its registered trademark as WOW Momo seeking to restrain the defendants from misrepresenting itself as authorized to offer franchises of the plaintiff to the public, in which pursuit it misuses the plaintiff’s registered mark ‘WOWMOMO’. C Hari Shankar, J., grants an interim injunction of John Doe nature restraining the unknown defendants from using, advertising, directly or indirectly dealing in the trade mark , or the domain names having mark WOWMOMO.
The plaintiff was incorporated in 2008, claiming to serve customers fresh nutritious and flavour-infused momos, dumplings, momo-filled burgers (MoBurgs), Chinese and Italian cuisine, both on dine-in as well as delivery basis. It claims to have adopted the mark in 2008, since it is continuously using the said mark. The plaintiff is also the registered proprietor of the domain name www.wowmomo.com. The plaintiff also claimed to have expended considerable amounts towards advertisement and promotion of the asserted WOW MOMO mark, the amount spent in 2022-23 being in the region of ₹ 7.26 crores.
Defendant 1 is alleged to be an entity misrepresenting itself as authorized to offer franchises of the plaintiff to the public, in which pursuit it misuses the plaintiff’s registered mark ‘WOWMOMO’. Further investigation revealed similar infringing activities being carried out across the websites www.wowmomos.in, www.wowmomofranchise.org, https://womomofranchise.shop/, https://www.wow-momo.shop/ and www.wowmomofoodfranchise.com. One of the websites advertise themselves to be authorised franchise agents of the plaintiff. Interested persons have been invited to fill up forms provided on the website or contact Defendant 1 through email at the email id franchise@wowmomo.in, support@wowofranchise.com and support@wowmomofoodfranchise.com. Once Defendant 1 is so contacted, payments are taken from such interested persons, under the garb of enlisting them as the plaintiff’s franchisees.
It was stated that several such unknown defendants are holding themselves out as authorized franchise agents of the plaintiff, whereas the plaintiff has, in fact, no franchisees. Among such infringing domain names, alleges the plaint, are www.wowmomo.co.in, www.wowomomofood.co.in, www.wowmomofoodfranchise.com, www.wowmomofoods.co.in, www.wowmomofood.co.in, www.wowmomofranchise.co.in and www.wowmomofranchise.in. Inasmuch as the owners/registrants of the websites/domain names which are indulging in such infringing activities are masked, the plaintiff has impleaded the said entities under the pseudonymous appellation Ashok Kumar/John Doe as Defendant 1.
The Court noted that a prima facie case of various unknown entities holding themselves out as franchise agents of the plaintiff, whereas the plaintiff disowns any connection with such entities. Through such activities, such entities are collecting money from the public. This is, therefore, an economic menace, which is needed to curbed. Accordingly, the plaintiff is entitled to ex parte interlocutory injunctive reliefs.
The Court passed the interim relief as follows:
(i) There shall be an order of interim injunction restraining anyone from using, advertising, directly or indirectly dealing in the trade mark , or the domain names wowmomos.in, wowmomo.co.in, wowomomofood.co.in, wowmomofoodfranchise.com, wowmomofoods.co.in, wowmomofood.co.in, wowmomofranchise.co.in, wowmomofranchise.in, wowmomofranchise.org, //womomofranchise.shop/ and www.wow-momo.shop/ or any other website or domain name which may be identical or deceptively similar to the plaintiff’s registered trademark and WOW! MOMO.
(ii) The owners of the websites wowmomos.in, wowmomo.co.in, wowomomofood.co.in, wowmomofoodfranchise.com, wowmomofoods.co.in, wowmomofood.co.in, wowmomofranchise.co.in, wowmomofranchise.in, wowmomofranchise.org, //womomofranchise.shop/, www.wow-momo.shop/ were directed to immediately take down the said websites.
(iii) Defendants 2 to 5 were directed to lock/suspend access to the websites/domain names wowmomos.in, wowmomo.co.in, wowomomofood.co.in, wowmomofoodfranchise.com, wowmomofoods.co.in, wowmomofood.co.in, wowmomofranchise.co.in and wowmomofranchise.org.
(iv) In case, the plaintiff comes across any other website or domain name that contains the mark WOW MOMO, which is registered by any of the Defendants 2 to 5, it is permitted to intimate Defendants 2 to 5 in that regard. On being so intimated, the concerned defendant shall immediately lock/suspend access to the said domain name. The plaintiff is directed, immediately thereupon, to file an affidavit before the Court to the said effect.
(v) Defendant 6 was directed to issue a notification to the various internet and telecom service providers registered under it to block access to the websites wowmomos.in, wowmomo.co.in, wowomomofood.co.in, wowmomofoodfranchise.com, wow.momofoods.co.in, wow.momofood.co.in, wowmomofranchise.co.in, wowmomofranchise.in and wowmomofranchise.org.
[Wow Momo Foods Private Limited v Ashok Kumar, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 8139, decided on 09-11-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. Ankur Sangal, Advocate for plaintiff
Not more than 20 days back I realized that I was dubed of 41,360 Rs. Few miscreants posed themselves as staff of wow momos and siphoned off my hard earned money claiming that the amount I paid was a registration fee for taking franchise ownership.