According to news reports, Consim India Pvt. Ltd, a Chennai-based entity which owns bharatmatrimony.com has sued Google.com for infringement of its trademark by showing search results of its competitors through the search provided on bharatmatrimony.com. According to Consim, the search using Google on the site throws up results of its competitors such as shaadi.com or simplemarry.com, which is an infringement of its trademark.
Another news report states that as part of the search results, sponsored competitive advertisements appear, which Consim India has issues with. According to Consim, a Google search from its site (bharatmatrimony) must show results exclusively that of bharatmatrimony. A few are of the opinion that unless an exclusivity clause is part of the agreement between Google and Consim, the former cannot be sued for infringement. Google is yet to comment on this officially.
This is an interesting issue, watch out this space for more news on this dispute.
I’d spoken to Consim Info about the case, so thought I’d clarify because the news reports dont highlight the specific issues that the case is trying to address.
They’re trying to address two situations – firstly, when there is competitive advertising when people search for their trademarks. Google is seen as a gateway to sites, even when people know the url. I dont think this should be prevented.
secondly, when competitors use their trademarks in advertisements for generic keywords. In this case, a search for Indian Tamil Bride will showcase an ad for a competitor, with the headline “Tamil Matrimony” but link to a competitors website. Tamil Matrimony is trademarked by Consim. Since it’s misleading, I think this should be prevented.
anybody had any idea who is consim’s counsel?
Dear Nikhil,
Thanks for the information. Can i request you to answer Anon’s query about consim’s counsel?
Bests,
Sai.
My comment on medianama:
This is ridiculous! Yahoo search does the same thing but consim wont dare sue them, thanx to the funding they received by Yahoo in the recent years! check up what I found on yahoo search http://search.yahoo.com/search?rd=r1&p=shaadi… (the first ad on the right hand side column) Its a bharatmatrimony ad using ‘shaadi as a keyword! going by their case, they should sue themselves for this, isnt it? does consim take us for being an oblivious audience?!
AA MOHAN of Mohan Associates Chennai is Consim’s Counsel.
Guys
Check this out:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/6219406/Google-can-sell-brand-names-to-other-advertisers.html
ARUN JAITLEY SUES US COMPANY FOR USING HIS DOMAIN NAME
The Delhi High Court granted an interim injunction to senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley and restrained the US company – Network Solutions & Portfolio Brains for usage of his portal by some other person using his name.
It also refrained the company from selling or auctioning the same.
Mr Jaitley had approached the High Court, stating that his name was being used by some other person who had made a website using his name.
Justice S Murlidhar granted an injunction to use the website and directed Network Solutions & Portfolio Brains Ltd not to sell or transfer the domain in his name until the proceedings of the court were completed.
Mr Jaitley’s lawyer Pratibha contended before the court that Mr Jaitley’s domain is already registered with the company and someone else using the similar name should not have been granted, Ms Pratibha contended.
The other person had tried to register the domain name http://www.arunjaitley.com. However, the same could not be done as Network Solutions was initially showing the same as Pending Deletion and later, it was put up on the Certified Offer program.
Ms Pratibha said ‘despite our sueing the company for 14,445 dollar, it transferred the domain to Portfolio Brains which is an auction site for domain names. As of today, Portfolio Brains is the registrant of the domain name.’ She added, ‘The name Arun Jaitley was exclusively associated with the politician and the reputation of the domain name can be seen from the fact that in a google search for the said name, in all the 61 pages, only he is mentioned. There is no other identifiable Arun Jaitley.’ The Court has accepted the arguments and has observed that nowadays, it was very difficult to register a domain name as could be seen from this case.
The court referred to the case of Mahindra & Mahindra Vs Portfolio Brains, the same auction site wherein the WIPO arbitrator had held that the said registration by the said site was a Bad Faith registration.
Mr Jaitley, who himself is a lawyer and had argued such cases for other parties, was facing the similar problem.
In his petition, Mr Jaitley had asked the court to grant him an ex-parte interim injunction order restraining the company or their principal officers, servants, agents or anyone who might be acting for and on its behalf, in any manner, from advertising the domain name, using the domain name for auction purposes or for any other purpose, from transferring, alienating or offering for sale the domain name ‘arunjaitley.com’ to any third party and from creating any third party interest in the said domain name ‘arunjaitley.com’.
It also restrained the company from directing the defendants to maintain the status quo in relation to the domain name by keeping the same On hold till an interim injunction was granted against the defendants directing them to immediately transfer the domain name ‘www.arunjaitley.com’ to him.
The Supreme Court of India has asked courts and tribunals to decide all matters
related to infringement of intellectual property rights
(IPR) within four months. This order was passed last week
in the patent dispute between Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor
over Flame bike. The court observed cases regarding
patents, trademarks and copyrights are pending for years.
“This is a very unsatisfactory state of affairs… We direct
that the directions be carried out by all the courts and
tribunals in this country punctually and faithfully,” it said
This is posted by VG NAIR IPR Consultant
I think the judgement clarifies that the Bharat Matrimonial Portal was being used by Google without license in the course of trade in a manner which is detrimental to their business interest. That would amount to an infringement and hence an injunction. The fact that the search is being routed through the portal makes this case peculiar which is very much different then what has been decided by the ECJ.
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic. Such a union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the marital structure created is known as wedlock.