Delhi High Court: In an application filed by the plaintiff as part of the suit seeking decree of permanent injunction, Anish Dayal, J., till the next date of hearing restrained Defendant 1, its proprietor, partner or director, and all others acting for or on their behalf, from using, promoting, advertising, directly or indirectly, the impugned trade marks ‘TiE’/ ‘TiE Global’/ ‘THE INDIAN ENTREPRENEUR’/ 
and the impugned domain name, or any other mark which might be identical to or deceptively similar to plaintiff’s trade mark ‘TIE’/ ‘TiE Global’/ ‘THE INDUS ENTREPRENEUR’, so as to cause infringement / passing off of the plaintiff’s registered trademark. The Court directed GoDaddy.com LLC, Defendant 2 to block/suspend access to the website www.tieglobal.in. Further, the Court also directed to file an affidavit providing complete disclosure of the domain/account information of Defendant 1.
Background
The plaintiff was a non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of California, USA and operated an organisation named ‘TiE Global’, wherein TiE was the acronym for The Indus Entrepreneurs. Their activities were related to entrepreneurs in all industries assisting them at all stages, from incubation, throughout the entrepreneurial lifecycle.
The plaintiff claimed that they were the owner of registered trademarks for ‘TiE’/ ‘TiE Global’/ ‘THE INDUS ENTREPRENEUR’ in various classes in India and abroad. Further, on 27-04-1995, the plaintiff obtained the registration of domain name www.tie.org and subsequently, on 17-08-2016, the plaintiff obtained another domain name www.tieglobalsummit.org (‘impugned domain name’) and were using both the domain names continuously. The plaintiff claimed its presence in twenty-six major cities in India and had also seen an increase in numbers of members in the organization. Thus, on this basis, they had acquired extensive reputation in their trade marks.
However, in January 2024, Defendant 1 was found to be using the impugned marks ‘TiE’/ ‘TiE Global’/ ‘THE INDIAN ENTREPRENEUR’/, and the impugned domain name. Therefore, the plaintiff contended that it was attempting to dishonestly claim association with their well-known mark and entity.
Analysis, Law, and Decision
The Court after considering these facts and circumstances, opined that it was satisfied that the plaintiff had made out a prima prima facie case for grant of an ex parte ad interim injunction. Further, the balance of convenience was in the plaintiff’s favour, and they were likely to suffer irreparable harm in case the injunction was not granted.
Thus, till the next date of hearing, the Court restrained Defendant 1, its proprietor, partner or director, and all others acting for or on their behalf, from using, promoting, advertising, directly or indirectly, the impugned trade marks ‘TiE’/ ‘TiE Global’/ ‘THE INDIAN ENTREPRENEUR’/ and the impugned domain name, or any other mark which might be identical to or deceptively similar to plaintiff’s trade mark ‘TIE’/ ‘TiE Global’/ ‘THE INDUS ENTREPRENEUR’, so as to cause infringement / passing off of the plaintiff’s registered trademark. The Court directed GoDaddy.com LLC, Defendant 2 to block/suspend access to the website www.tieglobal.in. Further, the Court also directed to file an affidavit providing complete disclosure of the domain/account information of Defendant 1.
The matter would next be listed on 07-05-2024.
[TiE Inc v. TiE Global, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 1437, Order dated 19-02-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Plaintiff: Ankur Sangal and Shashwat Rakshit, Advocates;
