Delhi HC casts net on Hotmail, seeks user details in Tata fracas

In a first-of-its kind order in the Indian legal history, justice C K Mahajan of the Delhi High Court has restrained an unidentified defendant from claiming any kind of association or endorsement with the Tata group. This was done through an interim injunction.

The court has also directed the e-mail service provider, MSN Hotmail, to furnish the registration details of the e-mail account within a fortnight, which could help in identifying the defendant.

The case concerns a chain mail, which has been put in circulation by unknown persons. The e-mail purports to be sent by an NGO working with labourers to treat cancer in Karnataka.

It falsely claims the sponsorship and support of Ratan Tata and the Tata Group and induces people to forward the e-mail to at least 10 more people.

The only information known about the entity is the e-mail address, "unionagainstcancer@hotmail.com".

Internationally, this kind of order is known as the 'John Doe' order, wherein the unidentified defendant is sued under the name of 'John Doe'.

The US supreme court gave its 'John Doe' order in a case filed by Irwin Toys Ltd against an anonymous person making false and disparaging statements on bulletin boards and through e-mails.

A London county court too gave a similar order in a case filed by America Online.

The Tatas have named the unidentified person as "Ashok Kumar" in the case. In an ex-parte order, delivered on April 22, the "unidentified" registrant of e-mail account 'unionagainstcancer@hotmail.com' was restrained from using the domain name 'www.tata.com' claiming support of the Tata Group in the activities of his NGO.

F N Subedar, senior vice president (finance) and company secretary, Tata Sons, told Business Standard: "We want to protect the Tata brand from being misused. We want the public to be wary of any such entity misusing the Tata name and making false claims so that they do not help perpetuate the illegality by forwarding the e-mails to others."

The case will come for hearing in July. A few years back the Tatas filed a similar case against a person who claimed to be a director on the board of a Tata company and started collecting money from people offering them jobs in the group.

"We had approached Hotmail seeking the details of the person but it could not give us the details on account of secrecy laws. Now, based on the court order, we will be able to get the details," Subedar said.

The court said: "It is necessary to preserve the veil of anonymity and direct the ISP Hotmail to provide the names and addresses, telephone numbers, bill records and information relating to the computer and modem of a person with the e-mail 'unionagainstcancer@hotmail.com' in relation to the messages."

The sender of the chain e-mail has now be restrained from circulating any communication using the Tata mark or domain name till the next hearing on July 8.