Time Warner Seeks Damages From Hindujas
American entertainment giant Time Warner will seek an unspecified sum in damages from the Indian subsidiary of the London-based Hinduja Group in a trademark violation case, counsel for the US. firm said. The Indian company was using the name `Cable Box office/CBO' for its movie channel.
Judge M K Sharma of the Delhi High Court recently granted a temporary injunction to the Time Warner Entertainment Company in its case against the Hindujas. The American firm had sought a permanent injunction to prevent Hinduja Group India Pvt Ltd from using the name for its movie channel. "The court will decide the amount after considering how much losses we incurred," Time Warner counsel Praveen Anand told India Abroad News Service. He added, "If there are damages, the least amount that can be paid is the licence fee, which is five to eight per cent of the total sales turnover." Ashok Mansukhani, Mumbai-based chief executive officer of IndusInd Media and Communication, a Hinduja Group company and one of the defendants in the case, and Hinduja Group's counsel Sudhir Chandra Aggarwal were not immediately available for comment.
Time Warner alleged the name of the Indian channel was "deceptively similar" to its Home Box Office/HBO trademark.
The judge confirmed his interim order granting injunction to Time Warner, given in September last year. Trial in the case will begin now.
"The suffix `Box Office' being the same with the mark of the plaintiff (Time Warner), the intention (of the Hindujas) appears to be to capitalise on the goodwill and reputation of the plaintiff," he said in his 32-page order.
The Hindujas had entered into an agreement with Time Warner last year for collaboration projects, but the joint venture project could not take off.
Late last year, the Hinduja Group started a movie channel in India called the `CVO/Cable Video Opera' even as the case was in court.
Judge Sharma said since the Hindujas had voluntarily changed the name of its channel from Cable Box Office to Cable Video Opera without informing the court and had acquired a reputation for it, "The factotum of irreparable injury and balance of convenience are against the defendants and in favour of the plaintiffs," he said.
"The case is unique as it is the first time that a market survey has been accepted as evidence on the question of whether a foreign trademark is well known in India," Anand said. "The inadmissibility of market survey in similar cases has been a major bottleneck for foreign firms. This ruling will make it easy to stop piracy," he said.
To counter the Hindujas' argument that Time Warner's logo was not known in India and the use of the CBO name would not hurt its reputation, the US firm produced in court the results of a survey conducted for it by market research agency MODE which showed that Indians were aware of the HBO trademark and were likely to confuse it with the CBO label.
A market survey is not acceptable as evidence under Indian laws but the judge accepted the MODE survey, setting a precedent that is likely to be a milestone in similar patents and trademark violation cases. "We have come in line with the principles of international jurisprudence," Anand said. He said the ruling was expected to address the concerns of international firms over patent and intellectual property protection in India. "Foreign investors feel that India does not have a good track record in intellectual property protection. But judgements like this will improve our reputation," he added.
Patent attorneys say over 400 civil and criminal cases related to trademark violations, counterfeiting and intellectual property piracy are pending in different Indian courts, 200 of these in New Delhi.