Alia Bhatt-starrer Jigra gets High Court relief after Rajasthan man said he runs online classes by that name

Petitioner Bhallaram Choudhary had said that he runs online classes with the name ‘Jigra’ and that he had also obtained a trademark for the same under The Trade Marks Act, 1999, in September 2023, under Class 41 which deals with education, entertainment and training.

Subsequently, he had sought stay on release of the movie ‘Jigra’, made by Dharma Productions Private Limited, citing trademark violation and the Commercial Court passed an ad interim injunction on October 8 on the movie’s October 11 release.

The production house had then approached the High Court citing its own trademark registration under various Classes – but other than 41. Appearing for Dharma Productions, senior advocate Vikas Balia, assisted by Abhilasha Bora and others, said that the appellant is not conducting any trade in goods or services so as to amount to violation of the Trade Marks Act by making the movie.

Appearing for Bhallaram, senior advocate R N Mathur and others said that his certificate of trademark has to be protected. They said that unless such protection is granted, the respondent would suffer infringement of commercial rights and if the impugned order is interfered with and the release of the movie is allowed, it will impact his business.

A Bench of Justices Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Munnuri Laxman said that the court is prima facie convinced that the name of the movie would not infringe the trademark rights of the goods and services.

“Moreover, the appellant is not trading in the name of ‘Jigra’, rather it is M/s. Dharma Production Private Limited. Thus, the goods and services rendered by Dharma Production Private Limited by naming a movie as ‘Jigra’ cannot be said to be an infringement of trademark laws,” it said.

It said that still if any kind of violation is made out, then the appropriate remedy in the shape of damages / monetary compensation can be granted, but for this the appellant cannot be put to a financial loss on count of stopping the release of the movie on October 11.