Stay of proceeding in a trademark infringement suit

Trademark battles on Indian turf have generated an impressive amount of case law, but the fight over the letter mark “FT” between the Financial Times of the UK and Bennett Coleman & Co of India is in a class of its own. Bennett Coleman is the flagship company of The Times Group, the largest media conglomerate in India and publisher of The Times of India, the country’s largest-circulation daily newspaper.

Since the institution of the suit, the parties have continuously been on a warpath. Lately, a judgment in the case has raised some of the finer points of trademark law in India.

Distinctive or not?

An application was filed by Bennett Coleman for stay of proceeding under section 124 of the Trade Marks Act 1999. Bennett Coleman questioned the validity of the registration of the mark “FT”, which was held by the Financial Times. Bennett Coleman contended that a prima facie consideration of the mark would reveal it to be of a non-distinctive nature, and also that there was little material on record to show that the letter mark FT has any inherent or acquired distinctiveness.

Manisha Singh Nair is a partner at Lex Orbis, an intellectual property practice law firm headquartered in New Delhi