HC tells Amazon, Flipkart to take down goods infringing Reliance marks

Court restrains sellers from misusing Reliance and Jio trademarks and directs major e-commerce platforms to delist infringing listings and share seller information

The Delhi High Court has asked e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and Flipkart, to take down goods that infringe Reliance Industries’ ‘Reliance’ and ‘Jio’ trademarks.

 

Justice Saurabh Banerjee, in an interim order, restrained multiple sellers — including one Pawan Kumar Gupta — from manufacturing, selling, or advertising fast-moving consumer products under the ‘Reliance’ and ‘Jio’ trademarks until the next hearing on November 13.

 

E-commerce companies such as IndiaMART, Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, and Snapdeal were directed to disclose complete details of the sellers found indulging in unauthorised activities.

 

The court held that the defendants had deliberately copied essential elements of Reliance’s trademarks — including distinctive logos, fonts, colour schemes, and more — with the intent of passing off their goods as those of the plaintiff.

   

Recognising the likelihood of confusion among the public, particularly semi-literate and rural consumers who often rely on brand recognition as a mark of authenticity, the court restrained the defendants from further misuse of the said marks. 

 

“The Defendant Nos. 1 to 21 (and such other entities/individuals discovered during the proceedings), along with their directors, partners, agents, dealers, retailers, and distributors, are restrained from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, advertising, or dealing in any manner with goods or services under the marks ‘RELIANCE’ and ‘JIO’, or any deceptively similar mark. The defendants are also restrained from using the plaintiff’s copyrighted artistic works in any form of packaging and from adopting any domain name, trading name, or meta-tag containing ‘RELIANCE’ or ‘JIO’ to pass off their goods. Defendant Nos. 22 to 28 are directed to delist the infringing listings and disclose all contact, financial, and transactional details of Defendant Nos. 1 to 21 and/or any other listings or pages that are found to be indulging in the unauthorised activities,” the court said, passing a dynamic injunction order.

 

A dynamic injunction is an evolving and flexible court order that not only halts current infringers from misusing a brand but also extends to cover future wrongdoers and fresh violations as they emerge — even if they are not named at the outset.

 

In this case, Justice Banerjee’s order goes beyond a conventional injunction.

 

It protects the trademarks ‘RELIANCE’ and ‘JIO’ from misuse by the 21 identified defendants, but crucially, it also covers “such other entities or individuals which are discovered during the proceedings,” said Ankit Sahni, Partner at law firm Ajay Sahni & Associates, who also appeared for Reliance.

 

“Additionally, the court directed e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Meesho, and IndiaMART not just to delist infringing products, but also to take similar action against future infringing listings by the same or unknown parties once notified, making the injunction effectively dynamic and forward-looking,” he explained.

 

Reliance adopted the ‘Reliance’ and ‘Jio’ trademarks in the 1960s and 2011, respectively.