Delhi High Court restrains misuse of Reliance Retail’s ‘Tira’ mark by imposters

The Delhi High Court has restrained various persons from using Reliance Retail Limited’s Tira trademark, after it was told that such persons/ entities had carried out large-scale impersonation and financial fraud targeting customers of the brand..Justice Saurabh Banerjee passed the ex parte ad-interim injunction on July 7, 2025, in a trademark case filed by Reliance Retail. The Court noted that the scam had assumed a pan-India character, with 8,919 consumer complaints registered over a span of two months, including 666 in Delhi alone.“The facts disclose that the acts of the defendant no.1 is nothing short of blatant impersonation with a view to defraud the unwary and innocent consumers who are only there for engaging themselves with the trademark Tira of the plaintiff," the Court said..Reliance Retail, represented by Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, submitted that its beauty and personal care brand Tira was launched in April 2023 and has acquired substantial goodwill. The company holds registered trademarks for Tira and its variants across multiple classes..According to the company, in May 2025, Reliance became aware of a widespread scam in which anonymous individuals were impersonating Tira representatives via WhatsApp and phone calls, using fake identity cards, promotional offers, and claims of failed transactions or order issues to deceive customers into making duplicate payments through UPI and QR codes.The Court was informed that over 8,900 complaints had been filed by consumers across cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Jaipur. The total estimated loss suffered as a result was stated to exceed ₹41 lakhs..The Court noted that the scam was being executed in a premeditated and coordinated manner using multiple rogue mobile numbers and fake digital identities.“The manner of execution of the aforesaid financial scam… carries the potential of significant harm and detriment,” the Court said.It noted that the use of marks identical to that of Tira created immense confusion and deception among consumers.It also emphasised the need for real-time enforcement to prevent rights from being reduced to "toothless tiger(s)” in the face of fast-moving digital frauds..The Court proceeded to issue the following directions:- Defendant No.1 (impersonators) and all associated persons are restrained from using the Tira trademark and its variants, including deceptively similar marks.- Telecom Service Providers (defendants 2 to 4) are to block and suspend mobile numbers used by the impersonators and disclose subscriber details of those who used these numbers.- WhatsApp (defendant no.5) is to block accounts associated with the rogue numbers and provide basic subscriber information of those who used these numbers.The National Payments Corporation of India (defendant no.6) is to block UPI IDs/ QR codes linked to the fraud and disclose account holder information of such numbers used to perpetrate the fraud. - These entities have also been directed to act against future rogue numbers/ accounts notified by Reliance.- Department of Telecommunications and the Union Ministry of Electronics, Information and Technology (defendants 7 and 8) are to ensure compliance by relevant intermediaries..The Court will hear the matter next on November 6, 2025..Senior Advocate Sethi, who represented Reliance, was briefed by Advocates Sai Krishna Rajagopal, Sidharth Chopra, Yatinder Garg, Disha Sharma and Abjay Aren from Saikrishna & Associates. .[Read Order]