In a judgment dated 19 January 2024, the Delhi High Court ordered the permanent blocking of three websites namely—’www.coma-share.com’, ‘www.croma-2.com’ and ‘www.croma-1.com’— for violating Tata’s consumer electronics chain, Croma’s trademark.
The case was first initiated in 2022, after Tata’s subsidiary and owners of the Croma Trademark, Infiniti Retail Limited, received multiple complaints flagging that these websites were defrauding people by taking money under the pretext of recruiting them for part-time jobs with Croma/ Infiniti Retail Ltd.
These websites copied Croma’s terms and conditions of use, privacy policy, etc effectively passing off its copyright as their own. One of the complaints received by a Croma customer also mentioned that the operators of one of these websites had approached them over messages and scammed them out of ₹1,65,000.
The operators also produced false proofs of authenticity (fabricated employee IDs, communications bearing Croma’s letterheads claiming to be signed by Croma’s CEO, Mr. Avijit Mitra, etc.) to make themselves come across as Infiniti Retail Limited when a customer made attempts to confirm the operator’s identity. The Delhi High Court has also ordered the permanent suspension of the mobile numbers and UPI IDs used to carry out these scams.
In December 2022, the court granted Infiniti Retail Ltd an ex-parte interim injunction (such a direction is typically granted in matters of urgency after hearing only one party), restraining the website operators from infringing Croma’s trademark.
This ruling sets a precedent against online fraud, safeguarding consumers and trademarks. It underscores the importance of swift legal action in protecting intellectual property. Protect your brand today, seek legal support from Vakilsearch to protect yourself from trademark infringement. For more details on Trademark registration get in touch with our experts today.
