The Bombay High Court has, through an interim order, restrained a firm from using Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)’s well-known ‘Jio’ trademark for taxi services being operated through the domain name www.jiocabs.com.
A single-judge bench of Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan passed the order on Tuesday while hearing a plea filed by RIL. The court observed that the energy-to-telecom conglomerate had established a strong prima facie case for protection of its intellectual property.
“The usage of a well-known and protected brand name would indeed cause grave injury to its owner,” the court noted, granting interim protection in favour of RIL.
RIL approached the High Court asserting its proprietary rights over the registered trademark ‘Jio’. It argued that the defendant’s use of the name ‘Jiocabs’ and the domain name www.jiocabs.com amounted to trademark infringement and passing off, potentially misleading consumers and damaging the company’s reputation and goodwill.
The bench recorded that after receiving a legal notice from RIL, the defendant firm had changed its business name but continued to keep the disputed domain active. Considering this, the court held that an interim injunction was warranted to protect RIL’s rights.
Accordingly, the court restrained the defendant from using:
- The ‘Jio’ trademark,
- The impugned domain name www.jiocabs.com, or
- Any logos, labels, or artwork identical or deceptively similar to Reliance’s trademarks or copyrighted material.
The matter will continue to be heard further, but the interim protection remains in place.
