Google sued for Shaadi on BharatMatrimony

Indian matrimonial website says its competitors’ ads cannot be shown.

Chennai-based Consim India Pvt Ltd, which owns bharatmatrimony.com and indiaproperties.com, has petitioned the Madras High Court against Google.com for “infringing” on its trademark.

In its petition, the company has said Google ads are used in BharatMatrimony’s platform to sell space to its (BharatMatrimony’s) competitors.

In the petition, a copy of which is available with Business Standard, Consim said that it had “trademarked www.tamilmatrimony.com, www.telegumatrimony, www.bharatrimony.com, www.bengalimatrimony.com, www.muslimmatrimony.com. Hence, Google should not allow ads on those trademarks”.

If a user types ‘Tamil matrimony’, for instance, in the Google search field on the site, the resultant advertisements or websites shown include shaadi.com and simplymarry.com. Consim says this shows Google is allowing its competition to bid on the trademarks of BharatMatrimony.

“We are not aware of it. We are yet to receive the court order,” said Google, when asked to comment. “In any case, the matter will be sub judice, and hence we cannot comment on it.”

Consim has asked the court to “give a permanent injunction restraining Google from infringing and/or enabling others to infringe plaintiff’s registered trademarks. Google should not allow competition to bid on trademarks of BharatMatrimony and should not allow company’s competition to use trademark as their heading”.

The company also asked Google and other respondents, including People Interactive Pvt Ltd, Jeevansathi Internet Services Pvt Ltd and Times Business Solutions Ltd, to surrender all compact discs, master copies, advertising materials, pamphlets, brochures, etc, which bear Consim’s trademarks and/or any other variants to the company.

Consim has also asked for Rs 10.05 lakh of damages for infringing and/or passing off and/or for enabling others to infringe its trademarks and domain names.

How does it work?

If a user types ‘Tamil matrimony’ in the Google search field on BharatMatrimony, it throws up links to websites like shaadi.com and simplymarry.com. The company has approached the court saying Google should not allow its competition to be linked to the trademarks of BharatMatrimony or use the trademark as their heading