Madras High Court Upholds Global Prior Use In MediaMonks Trademark Dispute
The Madras Excessive Courtroom has allowed a rectification petition for elimination of trademark filed with the identify “MEDIA MONK LABEL” and “MEDIA MONK” registered and being utilized by the respondent. The petition was filed by a global digital promoting firm of the identical identify. The one bench of Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, permitting the petition, held that the occasion that makes use of the mark on a world scale, even when not utilized in India, shall be recognized because the prior person.
Background
The petitioner, MediaMonk, a digital promoting and advertising firm primarily based within the Netherlands, is working beneath a site identify that has gained worldwide recognition. Its Indian operations started in 2015, and it acquired trademark registration in India in 2025. The petitioner has now utilized to make modifications to its trademark. The respondent, an impartial marketer, has been utilizing the same trademark, “Media Monk Label,” since 2009 and has claimed to carry prior rights to the mark in India. The petitioner filed a rectification petition to take away the mark allotted to the respondent, claiming that his mark was an identical to that of the petitioner and was adopted in unhealthy religion.
Arguments by the Petitioner
The counsel for the petitioner argued that the petitioner had world use and recognition of the mark since 2001, as evidenced by the date of graduation and worldwide registrations. They contended that the respondent, being in the identical market and line of enterprise, was conscious of the petitioner’s mark, thereby clearly establishing unhealthy religion in adopting a deceptively comparable mark. The counsel cited Milmet Oftho Industries and Ors. v. Allergan Inc. (2004), the place the court docket held that the earliest worldwide utilization of a mark, no matter registration in India, is entitled to safety because the prior person.
Observations by the court docket
The court docket discovered that the petitioner was the aggrieved particular person and is entitled to prosecute for the rectification.The court docket whereas deciding whether or not the impugned trademark was adopted in unhealthy religion held that the respondent adopted and utilized for the impugned marks in unhealthy religion and with dishonest intent.The bench bench discovered that the respondent, an skilled skilled in digital advertising, admitted to utilizing on-line instruments like WHOis and was conscious that the petitioner owned the area www.mediamonks.com since 2001. Bearing in mind his information of the market he labored in, the court docket discovered it far unconvincing that he was unaware of the petitioner’s well-known worldwide mark when he filed his purposes in 2009. The petitioner’s mark ‘MEDIAMONKS’ was deemed inherently distinctive, and the respondent’s clarification for adopting the same mark was rejected as implausible.The court docket discovered that the impugned marks had been held to be adopted in unhealthy religion, invalidating their registration.The court docket whereas adjudging the maintainability of rectification petition as a result of latches discovered that defence of complicity shall not stand because the respondent couldn’t show that the petitioner had precise information of the respondent’s use of the mark for the required 5 yr interval.Moreover, the court docket discovered that the respondent had utilized for the marks in unhealthy religion, which additional invalidated the protection. The court docket additionally clarified that mere delay in taking motion, with out clear proof of consent or encouragement, isn’t adequate to bar a rectification continuing.
Case Title: M/s Media Monks Multimedia v. Pachala Murali Krishna
