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Journalism of Courage
Ravi Mohan’s Bro Code Row: The Delhi High Court has restrained a film studio from using ‘BRO CODE’, the registered alcoholic beverage trademark, as the title for its upcoming movie or promotions.
Justice Tejas Karia observed if the film production company was not restrained from using the trademark of the company, Indospirit Beverages, it would “likely cause harm to the plaintiff’s reputation, consequently leading to the erosion of consumer trust and goodwill that the Plaintiff has amassed over the years.”
“A prima facie case is made by the Plaintiff that the Plaintiff’s Mark has been used in an identical manner in the title of the Defendant’s film without any authorization from the Plaintiff, which amounts to infringement and is also likely to create confusion in the minds of the consumers of the Plaintiff’s product under the Plaintiff’s Mark,” the court said.
The court also directed the film production company, Ravi Mohan Studios Private Limited, not to use the trademark in any manner, directly or indirectly, or any other mark which was identical with or deceptively similar to that of the beverage company’s.
The beverage company argued that they had “conceived, developed, and successfully launched its flagship product under the Trade Mark ‘BROCODE’ in December 2015”.
The company said their product was “innovative carbonated wine-in-a-pint format, uniquely crafted to appeal to the taste of the new-age consumer”.
Pointing to the product’s significance, the beverage company argued that it was their “flagship and most commercially significant product”, contributing substantially to “their revenue.”
The court noted that the film studio was in the midst of producing a movie titled ‘BRO CODE’ and had recently released the official promo of the film under the title ‘BRO CODE’ on its YouTube channel apart from other social media platforms.
The film production company, on the contrary, argued that the beverage company had no registration for their trademark in “Class 41”.
Class 41 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 deals with the “restriction on assignment or transmission when exclusive rights would be created in different parts of India.”
It was further argued by the studio that the beverage company’s application for the registration of the ‘BROCODE ROAST’ Mark was still pending before the Trade Marks Registry.
The beverage company, engaged in the business of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in India since 2014, asked the film studio to not use their trademark, ‘BROCODE’, in their upcoming movie and promotions without any licensing agreement.
However, the studios denied saying that they didn’t believe there was any infringement, and continued with the movie promotions.
The film studio, then, approached the Madras High Court, which granted an ex-parte ad-interim order for a period of three weeks against the beverage company, protecting it against “issuance of groundless threats of infringement”.
The beverage company, in turn, decided to file a trademark infringement case in the Delhi High Court, arguing that use of their brand for a movie (even though in a different industry) could cause confusion in the minds of consumers and harm their brand reputation.
The high court after hearing the arguments of both parties passed the interim order, restraining the film production company from using ‘BROCODE’ as the movie title, in trailers, posters, and digital promotions, until further court instructions.
“Till the next date of hearing, it is directed that the Defendant, its proprietors, partners, directors, principal officers, employees, servants, distributors, dealers, agents, licensees, assigns, representatives, and all others acting for or on its behalf, are restrained from using, adopting, reproducing, broadcasting, promoting, publishing, displaying, communicating, selling, offering for sale, or otherwise exploiting the Plaintiff’s Mark ‘BROCODE’ in any manner, directly or indirectly, or any other Mark identical with or deceptively similar to the Plaintiff’s Mark ‘BROCODE’, in connection with the upcoming cinematographic film, its trailer, teaser, poster, social media campaign, or any other related or unrelated content, whether in physical or digital form, amounting to the infringement of the Plaintiff’s Mark ‘BROCODE’,” the October 14 order read.
The court then posted the matter on December 23.
The court also clarified that the ad-interim injunction was “restricted” and the film studio was not restrained from continuing to make and produce the film in question as long as they comply with the present order of court.
