De Penning & De Penning

1. We are representing a major Indian salon furniture manufacturer, Marc Salon Furniture & Beauty Equipments, protecting and enforcing its Intellectual Property Rights in the shape, get-up and design of the furniture manufactured. A suit was filed for permanent injunction restraining the Defendant from passing-off of trademarks, copyright infringement, unfair competition and unfair trade practices. We were able to obtain an ex parte ad interim injunction order dated October 7, 2021, restraining the Defendant from misusing the Plaintiff’s images, shapes, get-up and designs.
2. Our client RPSG Sports Private Limited, part of RPSG Group is one of the most revered business conglomerates of India. RPSG Group was established in its current form in 2011, but the Group was founded on Goenka family’s two centuries of illustrious history in Indian business. The domain name www.lucknowsupergiants.in was registered on 25^th October 2021 by the Respondent on the same day on which our client won the bid and acquired rights of the Lucknow Franchise of the Indian Premier League Team. A complaint was filed to retrieve ownership of the domain. When approached, the Respondent offered to sell the disputed domain name and another at an exorbitant price.

Although our client had no registration for the trademark LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS, we could convince the Arbitrator of the overwhelming common-law right over the said mark. The Arbitrator emphasized that the fact that a domain name was registered before a complainant has acquired trade mark rights in a name, does not by itself preclude a complainant’s standing to file a complaint under the policy. The disputed domain name was successfully transferred in favor of the client as per Arbitration Award dated 29 July 2022.