The Delhi High Court has temporarily injuncted the use of Bharatpay trademark after coming to an initial conclusion that it is similar to the mark used by fintech firm BharatPe [Resilient Innovations Private Limited v M/s Bharat Pay and Ors]. .In an interim order passed on March 25, Justice Amit Bansal noted that just like BharatPe, Bharatpay (defendant) is involved in providing UPI and other payment services and the two trademarks are phonetically identical. The Court also found visual and structural similarities in the two trademarks. “In view of the above, a prima facie case of infringement of trade marks and passing off is made out on behalf of the plaintiff in its favour. Clearly, an attempt has been made by the defendant no.1 [Bharatpay] to create an impression that the impugned services rendered by the defendant no.1 are associated with the plaintiff,” the Court concluded. It, therefore, restrained the defendant company for using the trademark and the domain name www.bharatpay.net.Justice Bansal ordered the suspension and blocking of the domain and blocking of the mobile number associated with it. .BharatPe approached High Court arguing that the defendant, which is in the business of the business of payment of utility bills, data recharge services, insurance services and other financial services, which are identical to the services rendered by them. The Court was told that Bharatpay also has a mobile app and a cease and desist notice issued to them elicited no response.After considering the case, the Bench issued the injunction order. The case will next be heard on September 10. .Senior Advocate Ankit Jain along with advocates Mohit Goel, Sidhant Goel, Deepankar Mishra, Kartikeya Tandon and Abhishek Kotnala appeared for BharatPe. .[Read Order]
