Full Text
26(OS) to 33(OS), 35(OS) to 37(OS)
HIGH COURT OF DELHI
Date of Decision: 15th February, 2025
TATA SKY LIMITED ..... Plaintiff
Through: Mr. Tanmaya Mehta, Ms. Rashmi Gogoi, Adv. (M: 9999255931)
ORS. ..... Defendants
Through: Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Mr. Moazzam Khan, Ms. Shweta Sahu, Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Sahu Advocate, Mr. Parva Khare, Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal, Advs. for D-5.
(M:9987115749)
Ms. Akshita Jain, Advocate for D-8.
Mr. Akshay Goel, Mr. Shivam Narang & Mr. Lalit Kashyap, Advocates
& Mr. Lalit Kashyap, Advocates.
Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Mr. Ateev Mathur, Mr. Amol Sharma, Mr. Tanmay Garg, Mr. Aman Siwasiya, Advs. for HDFC
Bank (M. 9958609042)
Dr. B. Ramaswamy , CGSC for IFSO.
Mr. Chander M Lall, Sr. Adv.
(M:7310123456)
JUDGMENT
(4) WITH + CS (COMM) 176/2021 & I.A.1435/2024 SNAPDEAL PRIVATE LIMITED..... Plaintiff Through: Ms. Tanya Varma & Ms. Devyani Nath, Advs. 19:03
VERSUS
GODADDYCOM LLC AND ORS..... Defendants Through: Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Mr. Moazzam Khan, Ms. Shweta Sahu, Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Sahu Advocate, Ujjainwal, Advs. for D-1, 10, 2,3,4, 23, 26, 31. (M:9987115749) Mr. Darpan Wadhwa Sr. Adv, Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Sahu Mr. Parva Khare Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal, Advs for D-1 & 10. Ms. Kruttika Vijay and Ms. Aishwarya Kane, Advs. for D-9. (M:9910083144) Ms. Pallavi Singh Rao, Ms. Shree Sinha, Mr. Shivam Tiwari and Mr. Siddharth Kothari, Advs. for D-24. (M:9571147219) Mr. Praveen Kumar Jain & Ms. Shalini Jha, Advs. for D-34. (M:9871278525) Mr. Shatrajit Banerji, Advocate for D-
24. (M: 8527862988) (7) WITH + CS (COMM) 475/2022 & I.As.10851-52/2022, 12173/2022 FASHNEAR TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITED..... Plaintiff Through: Mr. Sidharth Chopra, Mr. Nitin Sharma, Mr. Yatin Garg, Mr. Ranjeet Singh, Mr. Vivek Ayyagari, Mr. Angad Makkar, Mr. M. J. Sudarshan, Ms. Ramya Aggarwal and Mr. Sohrab Mann, Advocates.
VERSUS
MEESHO ONLINE SHOPPING PVT. LTD. & ANR...... Defendants Through: Mr. Neel Mason, Mr. Vihan Dang, and Ms. Aditi Umapathy, Advs. for D-6. Mr. Vihan Dang, Ms. Aditi Umapathy 19:03 and Mr. Parva Khare, Advs. for D-10. Mr. Darpan Wadhwa Sr. Adv, Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Sahu, Ujjainwal Advocates. for D-7. Mr. Abhigyan Siddhant and Mr. Danish Faraz Khan, Advs for D-19 &
20. (M:9999999045) Mr. K.R. Sasiprabhu and Mr. Tushar Bhardwaj, Advs for Reliance Jio. (9) WITH + CS(COMM) 193/2019 & I.As.5399/2019, 11497/2019, 18216/2019, 15451/2021, 6069/2022, 31775/2024 COLGATE PALMOLIVE COMPANY & ANR...... Plaintiffs Through: Mr. Saif Khan Mr. Achuthan Sreekumar, Mr. Prajjwal Kushwah Ms. Imon Roy Mr. Achyut Tiwari Ms. Kanupriya Chawla, Mr. Swastik Bisarya, Mr. Rohil Bansal Mr. Shivang Sharma, Advs. Mr Pravin Anand, Advs.
VERSUS
NIXI & ANR...... Defendants Through: Ms. Akshita Jain, Adv. for D-1 (M- 9990526912). Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, Sr. Adv., Mr. Mrinal Ojha, Mr. Debarshi Dutta, Mr. Arjun Mookerjee, Mr. Nikhil Gupta, Mr. Nikita Rathi, Mr. Rishabh Agarwal, Mr. Yogesh Singh, Advs. for D-3. (916302105061) Mr. Danish Faraz Khan, Mr. Abhigyan Siddhant and Mr. Rahul Sharma, Advocates for UOI with Mr. Tanmay Nirmal, Manager legal. Mr. Tentu Satyanarayan, Director 19:03 (Legal), UIDAI & Mr. Tanmaya Nirmal, Deputy Manager (Legal & Policy), UIDAI (M-9899113033). Mr. Kushagra Goel, Mr Lovesh Goel, Ms. Tanya Singhal, Advs. for D-7. SI Prince Kumar, PS Hauz Khas. Mr. Sunil Gautam, SO, UIDAI. Mr. Nishant Gautam (CGSC), Mr. Dhruv Joshi, Mr. Vinay Kaushik and Mr. Vipul Verma, Advs. Mr Arunav Guha Roy and Mr. Priyanshu Jain, Advs. for Registry Services LLC (M: 8700254340) (10) WITH + CS (COMM) 297/2019 MOTHER DAIRY FRUIT & VEGETABLE PVT. LTD...... Plaintiff Bisarya Mr. Rohil Bansal Mr. Shivang Sharma, Advs.
VERSUS
1. & Mr. Lalit Kashyap, Advs. Mr. Premtosh K. Mishra (CGSC), Mr. Manish Vashist & Ms. Sanya Kalsi, Advs. (M: 8510042585) (11) WITH + CS (COMM) 298/2019 & I.As. 8189/2019, 13215/2019, 13631/2019, 15695-96/2019, 14210/2021, 16707/2021, 1084/2025 ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED & ANR...... Plaintiff 19:03 Through: Mr Kushal Gupta & Ms. Akansha Singh, Advocates. (M:9811128289)
VERSUS
WWW.ULTRATECHCEMENTS.COM & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, Sr. Adv. with Ms. Swati Agarwal, Ms. Akshi Rastogi & Mr. Vibhu Pahuja, Advs for D-5 to 7. Mr. Ananta Prasad Mishra & Mr. Gagan Gupta, Advocates for D-9. Mr. Manish Mohan, CGSC for UOI. Advs. (12) WITH + CS (COMM) 732/2019 & I.As. 3865/2020, 9234/2020 MONTBLANC SIMPLO GMBH..... Plaintiff versus MONTBLANCINDIA.COM & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi, Mr. Vishal Advocates for D-23 (M.8447704226) Mr. Yajur Bhalla, Mr. Deepak Samota and Mr. Sumer Ahuja, Advocates for D-1, 2, 4 to 10 & 20. (M:9711009378) Ms. Asiya Khan, Adv. for D-25 (M: 9971644936). 19:03 Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Sahu, Mr. Parva Khare, Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal Advocates for D-18. Mr. Varun Chugh & Ms. Shagun Chugh, Advs. for Mr. Utsava Magotra, Adv. (14) WITH + CS (COMM) 498/2020 & I.A.10520-21/2020 MICROSOFT CORPORATION & ANR...... Plaintiffs versus PCPATCHERS TECHNOLOGY PRIVATE LIMITED & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Sumit Nagpal, Ms. Dolly Luthra and Ms. Aashta Sood, Advocates for D-1, 2 & 3. (M:9911995000) Mr. Varun Chugh and Ms. Shagun Adv. (15) WITH + CS (COMM) 82/2020 & I.A. 2402/2020 JOCKEY INTERNATIONAL INC...... Plaintiff 19:03
VERSUS
WWW.JOCKEYFRANCHISE.COM & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Vivek Jain and Ms. Aastha Tiwari, Advs. for D-4. (M:9871863446) Advs. (17) WITH + CS (COMM) 276/2021 & I.A.7329/2021 MICROSOFT CORPORATION & ANR...... Plaintiffs versus TECH HERACLES OPC PRIVATE LIMITED & ORS.... Defendants Through: Mr Rajiv Kumar Malik, Mrs. Megha, Mr Deepanshu Nainwal, Advs for D-1 to 3. Siddhant and Mr. Rahul Sharma, Advocates for UOI. Vinay Kaushik, Ms. Akriti Mehrish, Advs. Adv. (18) WITH + CS (COMM) 293/2021 & I.As.7543/2021 19:03 TATA SONS PRIVATE LIMITED & ANR...... Plaintiffs versus M/S ELECTRO INTERNATIONAL & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. M.K. Singh, Advocate for Mr. Samir Chugh, Advs for Airtel Mr. Shashi Shekhar Dixit, Adv. for Airtel (M. 8896447704) Ms. Deepika Kathuria, Adv. for D-8. Mr. Rishabh Dev Mishra, Advocate for Bharti Airtel Limited. Adv. (19) WITH + CS (COMM) 95/2021 & I.A. 21025/2022, 6516/2023 THE HIMALAYA DRUG COMPANY & ORS...... Plaintiffs versus ASHOK KUMAR & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Moazzam Khan, Ms. Shweta Sahu, Mr. Parva Khare, Ms. Aishwarya Jain, Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal. Ms. Anvita Goel, Mr. 19:03 Prince Kumar, Advs for Go Daddy. Mr. Moazzam Khan, Mr. Alipak Banerjee Ms. Shweta Sahu, Mr. Parva Khare, Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal, Ms. Anvita Goel, Mr. Prince Kumar, Mr. Amrit Bhatia Advs. Mr. Tushar Singh & Ms. Trisha Patnaik, Advocates for D-25. Mr. Surinder Singh, Adv. for D-29 (M- 9311325398) Ms. Kruttika Vijay and Ms. Aishwarya Kane, Advs for D-17. (20) WITH + CS (COMM) 700/2019 & I.As. 17945/2019, 1876/2020 XIAOMI TECHNOLOGY INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED & ANR...... Plaintiff Through: Mr. Peeyoosh Kalra, Mr. C.A. Brijesh, Mr. Krisna Gambhir, Ms. Simranjot Kaur, Advocates (M:989932064[6]) Mr. Ishith Arora, Adv. (M.
9654451996)
VERSUS
WWW.XIAOMI-INDIA.XYZ& ORS...... Defendants Through: Ms. Shikha Sarin & Mr. Paras Malhotra, Advs. (M: 9910485840) Mr. Abhishek Parashar, In person. (M:
9319317578) Mr. Manish Mohan, CGSC. Ujjainwal Advocates for D-29. Ms. Yashika Kapoor and Mr. Parshant Arora, Advs. for VI. (21) WITH + CS(COMM) 250/2020 and I.A. 2285/2024 STAR INDIA PVT. LTD. & ANR...... Plaintiffs 19:03 Through: Mr. Pravin Anand, Mr. Saif Khan & Mr. Rohil Bansal, Advs.
VERSUS
OXIBUZZ.COM & ORS...... Defendants Through: Ms. Akshita Jain, Adv. for D-1 Mr. Darpan Wadhwa, Sr. Adv. with Ms. Swati Agarwal, Ms. Ritika Bansal & Mr. Vaarish Sawlani, Advs for D-3- 4. Mr. Mrinal Ojha, Mr. Debarshi Dutta, Mr. Anand Raja Adv, Ms. Tanta Chaudhry. Mr. Shivam Tiwari & Mr. Samyak Bilala Advs. Siddhant & Mr. Rahul Sharma, Advs. for UOI with Mr. Tanmay Nirmal, Manager legal. Mr. Vikrant N. Goyal and Mr. Nitin, Advs. (M:995322888) (22) WITH + CS (COMM) 255/2020 INDIAMART INTERMESH LIMITED.... Plaintiff versus MR.
AKASH VERMA & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr Neel Mason, Mr Ankit Rastogi, Mr Siddharth Vardhman, Mr Udit Tewari Adv. for D-2. (M: 9399304251). Mr. Rishi Kapoor & Ms. Yashika Kapoor, Advocates for D-3. Ms. Meenakshi Dutta, Mr. Anupam Kumar Mishra & Mr. Gautam Harshwal, Advs. for D-4 & 7. 19:03 Mr. Ankit Rastogi and Mr. Udit Tewari, Adv. for D-2 (M:
9711137357) Mr. Saransh, Adv. for Ms. Nandita Rao, ASC (Crnl.), GNCTD. Mr. Anupam Kumar Mishra and Ms. Keya Rawat, Advocates. (23) AND + CS (COMM) 324/2020 & I.As.6950/2020, 12588/2020, 11510/2021 MCDONALDS CORPORATION & ANR...... Plaintiffs Through: Ms. Rima Majumdar, Ms. Shilpi Sinha and Mr. Aaditya Vats, Advocates.
VERSUS
NATIONAL INTERNET EXCHANGE OF INDIA & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Shubhendu Anand, Mr. Akshat Kaushik, Mr. Piyush M. Dwivedi Advocate for D-1. Mr. Vivek Jain & Mr. Aastha Tiwari, Ms. Tulasi Mukhi, Advocates for D-18 & 28 (M9811426480). Mr. Kartik Bhalla, Adv. for ICICI Bank (M. 9818707178) Mr. Jaydip Pati, Advocate for D-24. Ujjainwal for D-5, 2, 6 7, & 8. Mr. Ravi Prakash, CGSC with Mr. Sahonwlah Farmani Ali, Advocate for D-35&36 (M-9469448888) Mr. Santosh Kumar Rout, Ms Dharna Veragi, Mr. B. N. Mishra & Ms. Shilpa Chaursia, Advs. for D-13 to 17, 22, 26, 27, 31) Mr Rajiv Kapur & Mr Akshit Kapur, Mr Tushar Bagga, Advocates. 19:03 Mr Yashu Rustagi, Adv. for BOB. Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Sahu, Mr. Parva Khare, Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal Ms. Anvita Goel Mr. Prince Kumar Mr. Amrit Bhatia Advs. for D-5. Mr. Tushar Singh & Ms. Trisha Patnaik, Advocates for D-25. Mr. Rajat Katyal & Mr. Harsh Sinha, Adv. for Yes Bank. Mr. Rishabh Dev Mishra, Adv. for Bharti Airtel Limited. Mr. Ateev Kumar Mathur & Mr. Amol Sharma, Advocates Sh. V. K Gupta, Sh. Sunil Shukla & Ms. Kaushiki Kashyap Advs for D-57 (M: 95822 06578). Mr. Harsh Sinha, Adv. for Yes Bank. Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Mr. Ateev Mathur, Mr. Amol Sharma, Mr. Aman Siwasiya & Mr. Tanmay Garg, Advs. for D-37. (M: 9958609042) Dr. B. Ramaswamy, CGSC for IFSO. Mr. Amit Tiwari, Mr. Vikram Singh Dalal, Mr. Ayush Tanwar, Ms. Ayushi Srivastava and Mr. Pratham Chawla, Advs. for D-35 & 36 (24) WITH + CS (COMM) 424/2020 & I.A. 2024[7] /2022, O.A.85/2024 SHOPPERS STOP LIMITED..... Plaintiff Through: Ms. Sanya Kapoor, Adv. (M:9810907412)
VERSUS
M/S SHOPPERSTOP & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. P.S. Sudheer & Ms. Anne Mathew, Advs. for D-5. 19:03 Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Sahu, Mr. Parva Khare & Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal Adv. (26) WITH + CS (COMM) 399/2021 & I.A. 10855/2021 HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED..... Plaintiff Ms. Ramya Aggarwal & Mr. Sohrab versus NITIN KUMAR SINGH & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Ankur Prakash, Ms. Simran Gill, Mr. Yudhishthir Bhardwaj, Mr. Dhananjay, Mr. Amod Bidhuri & Mr. Saquib Siddiqui, Advocates for D-1 Mr. Akshit Chaudhary, Adv. for D-5. Mr. Ramnish Khanna, Adv. for D-7. Mr. Bhagwan Swarup Shukla, CGSC with Mr. Sravan Kumar & Mr. Satyam Singh, Advs. for UOI/D-18 & 19. Mr. K.K. Singh, Advocate for D-27. Bhardwaj, Advs for Reliance Jio. Ms. Radhika Bishwajit Dubey, CGSC, Ms. Gurleen Kaur Waraich & Mr. Karan Khetani, Advs. (27) WITH + CS (COMM) 524/2021 & I.A. 13715/2021, 4506/2022 KAMDHENU LIMITED..... Plaintiff Through: Mr. Amit Chanchal Jha, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Sonker, Adv. 19:03 (M:7726021194) Mr. Sudarshan Kumar Bansal & Mr. Arpit Dudeja, Advs. (M. 9810132015) Mr. Vikrant N. Goyal and Mr. Nitin, Advs.
VERSUS
RAGHUNATH VIRDHARAM BISHNOI AND ORS..... Defendants Through: Mr. Rishabh Gupta and Mr. Abhishek Kumar Singh, Advocates. Mr. Lakshy Aggarwal, Adv. for D-3. Mr. Neel Mason, Mr. Vihan Dang, and Ms. Aditi Umapathy, Advocates Mr. Rishi Kapoor and Mr. Satish Rai, Advocates for D-3. (M:8368148214) Ujjainwal Advocates for D-8. Mr. K.G. Gopalakrishnan & Ms. Nisha Mohandas, Advs for D-7. and Mr. Parva Khare, Advocates for D-10 (M-99101983636) Mr. Sudarshan Kumar Bansal and Mr. Nikhil Sonker, Advocates. Bhardwaj, Advs. for Reliance Jio. Arora, Advocates for VI. (28) WITH + CS(COMM) 12/2022, I.As.263/2022 & 20922/2022 NEW BALANCE ATHLETICS INC..... Plaintiff Through: Mr. Urfee Roomi and Mr. Ayush Dixit, Advocates (M: 7011629381).
VERSUS
NBSTORESININDIA.IN & ORS...... Defendant Through: Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Adv, 19:03 CGSC; Mr. Tribhuvan, Adv for D-15 Mr. Apoorv Kurup, CGSC; Ms. Nidhi Mittal; Ms. Muskaan Gupta, Advs. for D-16 (M. 8826584325) Mr Naveen Kumar Jain, Adv. D-17 Mr Shivam Narang, Adv. for D-26 Mr. Akshay Goel, Ms. Vishali Nahar, Mr. Paras Arora, Advs. for D-13. Mr. Rakesh Kumar CGSC with Mr. Sunil Adv. (M: 9811549455) (29) WITH + CS (COMM) 26/2022 & I.As.612-13/2022, 954/2022 HT MEDIA LTD..... Plaintiff Mann, Advocates. (M:8017571175)
VERSUS
POOJA SHARMA & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr Firoz Iqbal Khan, Mohd Shad Advocate, Advs. for D-4 for Bharti Airtel Limited Ujjainwal Advs. for D-19. Mr Anand Kumar Shukla, Adv. and Mr. Parva Khare, Advs for D-20. Mr. Neel Mason, Mr. Vihan Dang, and Ms. Aditi Umapathy, Advocates Mr. M.K. Singh, Advocate for Mr. Samir Chugh, Advocate for Airtel. Mr Suaib Ahmed Khan and MD Shad, 19:03 Advs. Mr. Mohd Shad, Mr. Firoz Gandhi along with Defendant no. 4. (30) WITH + CS (COMM) 35/2022 & I.As.819/2022, 3168/2022, 4738/2022, 8767/2022, 48352/2024, 49655/2024 KAJARIA CERAMICS LIMITED..... Plaintiff Through: Ms. Rima Majumdar, Mr. Aditya Vats and Ms. Shilpi Sinha, Advs.
VERSUS
GODADDY.COM LLC & ORS...... Defendant Through: Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Ujjainwal Advs. for D-1. Mr. Sandhya Chawla, Adv. for D-2. Mr. Rishabh Dev Mishra, Adv. for Bharti Airtel. Mr. Lakshy Aggarwal, Adv. for d-4 Ms. Kirti Bhardwaj, Adv. for D-5(b). Samir, Advocate (M-9810455716) Mr. Santosh Kumar Rout, Ms Dharna Veragi, Mr. B. N. Mishra & Ms. Shilpa Chaursia, Advs. for D-6. Dr. B. Ramaswamy, CGSC for IFSO. (31) WITH + CS (COMM) 233/2022 & I.As. 5780-81/2022 BAJAJ FINACE LTD & ANR...... Plaintiffs 19:03
VERSUS
NIKO DAS & ANR...... Defendants Through: Mr. Vihan Dang, Ms. Aditi Umapathy and Mr. Parva Khare, Advs. for D-3. Mr Prashant Prakash, Mr. Varun Pathak, Ms. Amee Rana, and Mr. Vishesh Sharma, Advs. for D-4. Mr. Lakshy Aggarwal, Adv. for D-7. Mr. Neel Mason, Mr. V. Dang & Ms. Aditi, Advs. for D-3. (M:9971586598) Mr. Varun Chugh & Ms. Shagun Adv. (32) WITH + CS (COMM) 275/2022 & I.As. 6535-36/2022 HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD & ANR...... Plaintiffs versus UNILEVERR[1].IN & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Rishabh Dev Mishra, Advocate Mr. Rahul Chauhan, Ms. Aishwarya Mishra Advocates for D-21. Ms. Asiya Khan, Advocate for D-25 19:03 Mr Chandrashekhar Chakalabbi, Ms Aishwarya Hiremath & Varnik Kundaliya, Advs. for D-20. Mr. M.K. Tiwari and Mr. R Mishra, Advs. for D-18 & 19. Adv. (33) WITH + CS (COMM) 364/2022 & I.As. 8518-20/2022, 12855/2022 AMAZON SELLER SERVICES PRIVATE LIMITED & ANR...... Plaintiffs versus AMAZONBUYS.IN & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Raghav Awasthi, Adv. for D-5. Mr. Navneet Mishra, Adv. for Ms. Ritu Mishra Adv. for D-6 (M: 9318374047). Mr. Prashant Prakash, Adv. for D-7. Ms Yukti Gupta, Adv. for HDFC Bank Mr. Arjun Mookerjee, Mr. Nikhil Gupta, Ms. Nikita Rathi, Mr. Rishabh Agarwal and Mr. Yogesh Singh, Advs for D-8 (M-9167094381) Mr. Shashi Shekhar Dixit, Adv. for D- 10. Mr. Vineet Dhanda, CGSC with Mr. Abhishek Singh, Adv. for UOI/D-18 19:03 & 19. Mr. Harshal Arora, Adv. for D-5. Mr. Varun Pathak, Ms. Amee Rana, & Mr. Vishesh Sharma, Advs. for D-4. Mr. Sharique Hussain, Adv. for HDFC Ms Ritu Mishra, Advocate for D-6 Canara Bank (M- 9873796792) Adv. (35) WITH + CS (COMM) 389/2022 & I.As. 9069/2022, 12578/2022 THE CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES, INC..... Plaintiffs Through: Mr. Naqeeb Nawab & Mr. Ashutosh Ranga, Advs. (M: 8209086773)
VERSUS
ASHOK KUMAR & ORS...... Defendants Through: Ms. Nidhi Raman CGSC with Mr. Zubin Singh, Mr. Arnav Mittal and Mr. Akash Mishra, Adv for D-4 & 5. Ujjainwal for D-12 (M: 9987115749) Mr. Prashant Prakash, Advo. for D-19. Mr. Varun Pathak, Ms. Amee Rana, & Ms. Vibhuti Vasisth, Advs. for D-23 Mr Yogesh Pachauri, Adv. for D-24 (36) WITH 19:03 + CS (COMM) 113/2023 & I.As. 4200/2023, 21659/2023 INDIAN FARMERS FERTILISER COOPERATIVE..... Plaintiff Through: Mr. Abhishek Singh, Mr. J. Amal Anand, Mr. Elvin Joshy, Ms. Alisha Sharma, Mr. Shashwat Tyagi & Mr. K.
V. Vibu Prasad, Advs. (M.
8447960358).
VERSUS
REGISTRANT OF IFFCOFRANCHISE.COM & ORS.. Defendants Through: Mr. Rajshekhar Rao Sr. Adv with Ms. Tine Abraham, Ms. Shivani Rawat, Mr. Mohanakrishna C., Mr. Abhi Udai Singh, Mr. Harshil Wason, Advocates for D-33. (M: 8054452858) Mr Varun Pathak, Mr Shyamal Anand, Mr. Thejesh Rajendran, Mr Tejpal Singh Rathore, Adv. for D-34 Mr Nitinjya Chaudhry, Sr Panel Counsel with Mr Rahul Mourya, Adv. for D-35 & 36 (M: 9810103680). Mr. Susmit Pushkar, Mr. Anchit Oswal, Mr. Gaurav Sharma, Ms. Naina Agarwal, Advs. for D-38. Mr. Ramesh Babu with Ms. Manisha Singh, Mohd. Shaurakh, Ms. Tanya Chowdhary & Ms. Jagriti Bharti, Advs. for D-39 Agarwal and Mr. Yogesh Singh, Advs. for D-27. Mr. Arun Aggarwal, Mr. Shivam Saini & Mr. Satyadev Prakash, Advs. for D- 15 (M: 9811087995) (37) AND + CS (COMM) 610/2023 & I.A. 16723/2023, 647/2024 CRESSET CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC & ANR...... Plaintiffs 19:03 Through: Mr. Sourabh Rath & Mr. Vibhore Yadav, Advs. (M: 9811531248)
VERSUS
REGISTRANT OF WWW.CRESSETCAPITAL.IN, WWW.CRESSETINDIALIVE.LIVE & ORS...... Defendants Through: Mr. Mrinal Ojha, Mr. Debarshi Dutta, Agarwal and Mr. Yogesh Singh, Advs. for D-6. Mr. Amit Tiwari, Mr. Vikram Singh Dalal, Mr. Ayush Tanwar, Ms. Ayushi Srivastava and Mr. Pratham Chawla, Advs. CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)
1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode. I.A.1435/2024 (for delay) in CS (COMM) 176/2021
2. This is an application filed on behalf of the Defendant No.24 - Wix.com Ltd. under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 seeking condonation of delay of 112 days in filing the written statement in the subject suit. The Defendant No. 24 has its registered office in Tel Aviv, Israel.
3. The present application was considered on 3rd September, 2024, and after hearing the parties, in order to verify when the Defendant No.24 was first served, the Registry was directed to put up a report as to when the summons were served through email. The Registry has put up a report to the following effect: “With reference to the service of summons issued in terms of order dated 16.04.2021, it is submitted that the summons was served to defendant no 5 to 32 through Receipt and Despatch Branch through email. But, upon 19:03 cross checking the delivery report of email, it has been found that the email ID of defendant no 24 i.e. abuse@wix.com was not entered by the then dealing assistant of R&D Branch and hence the summons could not be effected upon the defendant no 24 i.e. wix.com. The copy of summons and email is attached herewith. The inconvenience caused to the hon'ble court is deeply regretted.”
4. A perusal of the above would show that there was an error by the Registry in sending summons through email and Defendant No.24 was not sent the summons through email along with other Defendants. In view thereof, there was no service of summons on the Defendant No. 24 in this matter.
5. Ld. Counsel for the Plaintiff submits that the Defendant admits to have been served in August, 2023 and even thereafter the written statement was filed belatedly.
6. Considering that these matters involve complex issues and the Defendant No.24 is a company from Israel, the written statement having been filed within the overall period of 120 days from the service in August, 2023, the present application is allowed. The written statement is taken on record.
7. Application is disposed of in above terms. CS (COMM) 176/2021
8. List on 5th April, 2025. I.A. 1084/2025 in CS (COMM) 298/2019
9. This is an application filed on behalf of the Plaintiffs under Order XI Rule 1(5) and 1(12) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 seeking leave to place additional documents on record.
10. Considering that applications seeking interim injunction are currently being heard, the additional documents are taken on record, subject to them 19:03 being proved in accordance with law at the stage of trial, if so required.
11. The application is allowed and disposed of in above terms. CS (COMM) 20/2019 & I.A.561/2019 CS (COMM) 176/2021 CS (COMM) 475/2022 & I.As.10851-52/2022, 12173/2022 CS(COMM) 193/2019 & I.As.5399/2019, 11497/2019, 18216/2019, 15451/2021, 6069/2022, 31775/2024 CS (COMM) 297/2019 CS (COMM) 298/2019 & I.As. 8189/2019, 13215/2019, 13631/2019, 15695-96/2019, 14210/2021, 16707/2021 CS (COMM) 732/2019 & I.As. 3865/2020, 9234/2020 CS (COMM) 498/2020 & I.A.10520-21/2020 CS (COMM) 82/2020 & I.A. 2402/2020 CS (COMM) 276/2021 & I.A.7329/2021 CS (COMM) 293/2021 & I.As.7543/2021 CS (COMM) 95/2021 & I.A. 21025/2022, 6516/2023 CS (COMM) 700/2019 & I.As. 17945/2019, 1876/2020 CS(COMM) 250/2020 and I.A. 2285/2024 CS (COMM) 255/2020 CS (COMM) 324/2020 & I.As.6950/2020, 12588/2020, 11510/2021 CS (COMM) 424/2020 & I.A. 2024[7] /2022, O.A.85/2024 CS (COMM) 399/2021 & I.A. 10855/2021 CS (COMM) 524/2021 & I.A. 13715/2021, 4506/2022 CS(COMM) 12/2022, I.As.263/2022 & 20922/2022 CS (COMM) 26/2022 & I.As.612-13/2022, 954/2022 CS (COMM) 35/2022 & I.As.819/2022, 3168/2022, 4738/2022, 8767/2022, 48352/2024, 49655/2024 CS (COMM) 233/2022 & I.As. 5780-81/2022 CS (COMM) 275/2022 & I.As. 6535-36/2022 CS (COMM) 364/2022 & I.As. 8518-20/2022, 12855/2022 CS (COMM) 389/2022 & I.As. 9069/2022, 12578/2022 CS (COMM) 113/2023 & I.As. 4200/2023, 21659/2023 CS (COMM) 610/2023 & I.A. 16723/2023, 647/2024 Directions qua GoDaddy.com LLC and Verisign Inc.
12. On 7th February, 2025, after considering the submissions of the parties in respect of the powers of the Domain Name Registrars vis-a-vis the 19:03 Registries to block and lock a particular word string from being registered as domain names, the Court had observed as under:
19:03
13. Pursuant to the order dated 7th February, 2025, notice was issued to the two Registries i.e., Registry Services LLC and Verisign, Inc., both the said parties have entered appearance before the Court. Mr. Chander Lall, ld. Sr. counsel appearing for Verisign, Inc. submits that he would like to file an affidavit explaining the role of Verisign, Inc. and also the steps that can be undertaken by Verisign, Inc. if directions are given by the Court.
14. Specifically, both these parties i.e., Registry Services LLC and Verisign, Inc., shall file their affidavits in respect of the following aspects: i. The domain name extensions that the said Registries manage and supervise; ii. Whether in respect of the said domain name extensions, orders for suspension, locking, blocking and transfer of the domain names can be implemented by them in respect of existing infringing domain names; iii. Whether the said Registries can also implement orders injuncting registration of infringing domain names in the future which contain the brands/trademarks as may be directed by the Court in the form of a TLD/word string.
15. In addition, National Internet Exchange of India (hereinafter “NIXI”) shall also file an affidavit in respect of the above directions.
16. At the moment, the said two registries are not being impleaded in any suit of the present batch matters. Upon consideration of the affidavits which they file, the Court shall pass further orders in this regard.
17. Let the said affidavits be filed by 15th March, 2025. Beneficiary Name Lookup Facility
18. On the last date of hearing i.e., 7th February, 2025, in respect of the 19:03 ‘Beneficiary Name Lookup Facility’ the ld. Counsel for the Reserve Bank of India (hereinafter “RBI”) had drawn attention of the Court to the Circular dated 30th December, 2024 titled “Introduction of beneficiary bank account name look-up facility for Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) Systems”. In addition, the ld. Counsel for RBI had also pointed out the instructions issued by RBI to the banks for extending the beneficiary name lookup facility to RTGS and NEFT. In respect of the same, the Court was informed that the said beneficiary name lookup facility would be fully implemented by 1st April, 2025 and would cover RTGS, NEFT, internet banking and mobile banking.
19. The Court vide order dated 7th February, 2025 passed the following directions in respect of the above circular and instructions issued by the RBI:
19:03 implementation of the circular dated 30th December, 2024 by the banks represented by him.
13. Insofar as the Indian Bank Association (hereinafter “IBA”) is concerned, Mr. Rajesh Kumar Gautam, ld. Counsel has appeared through VC. An affidavit has also been placed on record on behalf of the IBA in terms of the order dated 21st December, 2024. The same is taken on record and will be considered on the next date.
14. Further, let the IBA also file a report by the next date of hearing in respect of the circular dated 30th December, 2024 issued by the RBI. A competent official of the IBA shall also remain present before the Court, either physically or virtually, on the next date of hearing.
15. At this stage, Mr. Khan, ld. Counsel has brought to the notice of the Court a communication by the NPCI dated 26th June, 2020 wherein certain steps have been taken to mitigate risks by misleading VPAs/UPI ids. One of the reference list of keywords includes brand names which are registered with the trademarks authority.
16. Let the affidavit being filed on behalf of NPCI also address the stand of the NPCI in respect of the above communication and as to how this is being done. The IBA shall also address in its respective report its stand qua the communication of NPCI dated 26th June, 2020 and how it is being implemented across all banks.
17. It is made clear that the affidavits to be filed by NPCI and IBA shall take into consideration all relevant aspects arising from the circular of the RBI dated 30th December 2024, steps for giving information to LEAs and in respect of the communication dated 26th June 2020.”
20. Pursuant to the aforesaid directions, from the National Payments Corporation of India (hereinafter “NPCI”), Mr. Ajay Shyam Pal, In-Charge 19:03 Products and Mr. Nitesh S.K., Lead Product Development, are present in Court. Further, Mr. Pushkar, ld. Counsel appearing for the NPCI has filed an affidavit explaining the manner in which the beneficiary account name lookup services to be implemented by the banks. A copy of the said affidavit has been handed over in Court and the same is taken on record. The affidavit of NPCI states as under: “A Process of beneficiary account name lookup service
5. That NPCI has taken the following steps for the development of the facility in terms of the RBI Circular: a. To implement the beneficiary account name look-up facility, an Application Programming Interface ("API") has been developed by NPCI. This API will be provided to the banks. This API shall ensure that the beneficiary's account name (as recorded by the beneficiary's bank in its CBS upon successful KYC of the customer as per the RBI's KYC Master Directions) is made visible to the remitter prior to making the payment through RTGS/NEFT. b. The API would be invoked by the remitting bank to NPCI Switch which shall then forward the request to the corresponding beneficiary bank. Based on the response received from the beneficiary bank, the response shall be sent to the remitter bank through NPCI switch. NPCI has developed this facility to fetch the beneficiary's name based on the account number and IFSC of the beneficiary provided by the remitter to the remitter bank. c. The process flow of the API developed by NPCI to implement the beneficiary account name lookup facility in NEFT and RTGS is as under: 19:03 i. Remitter initiates request: The remitter requests for verification of beneficiary account name at the time of initiating a transaction or registering the beneficiary or revalidation of the registered beneficiary by entering beneficiary's account number and IFSC. ii. Remitting bank initiates Request for Beneficiary Details to NPCI: Upon authorization, the remitting bank initiates the request for beneficiary details to NPCI switch. iii. Request Processing: The NPCI switch carries out structural validations such as field length, schema format, presence of mandatory fields and checks for beneficiary bank availability in the system. If all the checks are passed, the NPCI switch routes Request for Beneficiary Details to beneficiary bank based on IFSC. If the details provided in the request are invalid or incomplete, then NPCI switch sends a decline response back to the remitting bank with appropriate error code. iv. Beneficiary Account Name Lookup: The beneficiary bank receives the Request for Beneficiary Details from the NPCI switch and fetches beneficiary account name from the CBS.
V. Response to Request for Beneficiary
Details sent to NPCI switch: Beneficiary bank initiates the response to request for beneficiary details to NPCI switch with beneficiary account name fetched based on the account number. If the beneficiary's name is not fetched due to any reason such as invalid account 19:03 number or account closure or consent not provided by the beneficiary, etc., the beneficiary bank sends a decline response (as per response codes provided by NPCI). vi. Response to Request for Beneficiary Details forwarded to remitter bank: The NPCI switch forwards the beneficiary details to the remitting bank. vii. Display to remitter: The remitting bank shall display to the remitter/ customer of the remitting bank only the name of the beneficiary. viii. Timeout Handling: If there is a timeout during any stage of the query processing (e.g., network issues, system overload), the NPCI switch initiates a timeout response. The remitting bank receives the timeout response and may attempt to resend the query or handle the timeout scenario according to predefined protocols.
6. That NPCI's role is limited to defining specifications for beneficiary account name lookup service, certifying banks for technical integration related to lookup service, routing of remitter bank request for beneficiary account name lookup service to the beneficiary's bank, routing of response shared by beneficiary bank back to the remitter's bank, message level validation to check that the structure of the data is as prescribed and mapping of error code and response code. It is submitted that no data is stored by NPCI. B) Steps taken by NPCI for implementation of the 19:03 RBI Circular
7. Implementation of beneficiary account name lookup involves the following: a. NPCI has developed the API and shared with banks. A simulator environment was also made available to banks to test this API. b. Banks need to develop the API as per specifications shared by NPCI and test in the simulator environment. c. Upon completion of testing, banks need to deploy this facility in their channels and CBS. d. Banks need to upgrade their net banking and mobile banking channels to provide this facility to their customers.
8. Steps for the implementation of beneficiary look up facility: a. NPCI and RBI have been following up with banks continuously through meetings and email communications to ensure that this facility is made available to bank customers before the timeline issued in the RBI guideline. b. Recurring calls and workshops are conducted with banks and their service providers to ensure daily query resolution and support extension to banks from time to time. c. Banks are at various stages of development and testing of the facility.”
21. Insofar as UPI IDs and VPAs are concerned, Mr. Pushkar, ld. Counsel submits that the beneficiary name lookup facility is already available on those platforms and whenever transactions are conducted, the name of the 19:03 beneficiary appears on the App itself before making the payment. The name of the recipient would also be clearly visible to the person making the payment. He submits that the creation of UPI Ids or the VPAs is the responsibility of the respective banks and not of NPCI, accordingly, it is up to the banks, who permit registration of the IDs, to ensure that there is no violation or use of key words which are impermissible.
22. It is noted that one of the important features of this affidavit is Annexure 1 which contains the indicative reference list of key words not to be allowed to individuals. The said list also contains names/marks of well known brands or companies which cannot be permitted to be registered as IDs of account holders without the permission of the said entity/brand holder. Further, the said list also includes various websites and well-known marks, organizational names, Government bodies, corporate designations which are not to be registered.
23. It is submitted by ld. Counsel for NPCI that the said list is only an indicative list prepared by NPCI for the information of the banks and the same is not a definitive list. It is also submitted that the directions to the respective bank would have to be issued by the Court for refraining from registering a particular string of words. The NPCI does not have the power to implement the same.
24. Considering the said submissions, let the ld. Counsel for the NPCI take instructions as to whether upon a Court being satisfied that a brand or a mark has acquired a status which is well known and there ought to be an order directing that no individuals should be allowed to register bank accounts or UPI Ids or VPAs with the said brand names, an advisory can be issued by the NPCI to all banks in this regard, which would thereafter have to be 19:03 implemented by the banks themselves.
25. The officials of the NPCI are discharged from personal appearance until further directions. Directions in the suits
26. Pursuant to the order passed on 7th February, 2025, today, the Court had heard and decided applications in the individual suits where urgent reliefs were pressed for by the respective Plaintiffs.
27. Accordingly, individual orders have also been passed in the CS(COMM) 350/2020, CS(COMM) 228/2021, CS(COMM)135/2022, CS(COMM) 490/2022, CS(COMM)373/2020, CS(COMM) 154/2021, CS(COMM) 471/2020 and CS(COMM) 303,2022. However, the present order would also be applicable to the said suits as well.
28. List on 5th April, 2025.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUDGE FEBRUARY 15, 2025 dj/ms 19:03