The Court noted that eBay was able to prove that it was the registered proprietor of the eBay marks and was also able to show its goodwill and reputation in the said marks, not only in India, but also internationally.
The defendants were not only taking unfair advantage of eBay’s reputation and goodwill, but also deceiving unwary consumers of their association with eBay, thereby leading to the dilution of the eBay mark, Justice Chawla held.
“As far as the domain name/website of the defendants is concerned, the same is also deceptively similar to that of the plaintiff. It is likely to deceive an unwary consumer of its association with the plaintiff,” the Court added in its order.
The use of the same or similar domain name may lead to a diversion of users, which could result in such users mistakenly accessing one domain name instead of another. Therefore, a domain name may have all the characteristics of a trademark and could find an action for passing off, the Court explained.
Thus, the Court held that eBay would be entitled to damages to the tune of ₹2 lakh, apart from costs of the suit.
The Court also directed the defendants to change the names of their companies ‘Shopibay Internet Private Limited’ and ‘Shopibay Ventures Private Limited’ sans using the mark or word ‘Shopibay’.
Source: Barandbench
