- (1.) The plaintiff is a leading media house and it has added to its original business of publishing a well-known newspaper by the name of Hindustan Times by making forays into radio and the internet. THE plaintiff's flagship publication has wide acceptability and the newspaper, originally a leading daily in Delhi, has also a Calcutta edition. A few years back the plaintiff launched a business daily by the name of Mint in collaboration with a reputed international business newspaper. THE plaintiff claims that Mint has gained wide circulation over a short span of time and owes much of its phenomenal success to its readers having access to the worldwide business news covered by the much acclaimed Wall Street Journal. THE plaintiff says that Mint has an impressive circulation of over 1,20,000 copies daily in six cities in the country, including Calcutta, and counts reputed commercial institutions and entrepreneurs in its list of annual subscribers.
(2.) The story unfolds with the plaintiff releasing a series of advertisements in May, 2009 where there is an announcement in the form of a sentence with only some of the words in English; the other apparent words are made up of Greek letters that may or may not constitute words in that language. THE plaintiff cm barked on a high-profile publicity drive by launching the advertisement campaign in the print media, the essential message whereof was contained in the following slogan appearing at the foot of each advertisement: "Presenting Mint, refreshing clarity in business news." Below such slogan there are two further lines in smaller print to the following effect: Clear and well-analysed business minus the jargon. Global perspective with an exclusive section from THE Wall Street Journal. Everyday. The USP, to borrow a jargon from the parties' line of business, of the print advertisements was undoubtedly this unintelligible message screaming out partly in English and partly in gibberish in a strange alphabet. To the top right corner of the advertisement there is the Mint logo with the name in unspectacular lower case printed in white against a yellow rectangular background. Above the yellow rectangular patch, the name of the plaintiff's foreign collaborator's paper Wall Street Journal is written in block letters but in much smaller size. The announcement in English and Greek is in black capital letters against a white background that is in larger size than anything else written in the advertisement. At the bottom right of the advertisement there is a picture of the Mint newspaper with the section dedicated to Wall Street Journal on an inside page clearly visible. The plaintiff says that the concept of incorporating the notion that ordinary business news as it is presented may be Greek to the audience not versed in that old and rich language first dawned on the plaintiff and was expressed in the use of the English words interspersed with Greek alphabets for conveying the message that the plaintiff's publication was different and the news that it communicated was lucid and graspable by its readers. The plaintiff insists that in its conceptualisation of the idea and the expression thereof in tangible form, the plaintiff is entitled to the exclusive use of the manner of expression thereof and any variant of such expression would amount to infringement of its copyright therein. The plaintiff has also pleaded a cause of action in passing-off, though the relief claimed therefor is an injunction on the defendant from "passing off or attempting to pass off its advertisements as that of the plaintiff." The claim in passing-off is not in the trade mark sense of the cause of action; the plaintiff restricts the cause of action to its advertisements and does not relate it to the plaintiffs product.
(3.) The English and Greek writings are different in the several advertisements and immediately below the main announcement that is the striking feature of each advertisement, there is a question posed. In one, the question is: "Is this how you get your business news?" In another the advertisement asks: "Tired of complicated business news?" THE announcement in every case contains one or two English words relating to business or the commercial world. THE predominant sense of the advertisement is that business news is generally incomprehensible, so much so that even parts of solitary sentences used in the dissemination thereof may be beyond the audience, but the plaintiffs newspaper presents it in a lucid, simple manner. The plaintiff complains of a rival series of advertisements issued by the defendants, which are in a related line of business. The defendants broadcast business news on their television channel, Bloomberg UTV. The plaintiff says that it noticed the first of the defendants' series of advertisements early in June, 2010 when it was published in the Delhi and Calcutta editions of a newspaper. The plaintiff suggests that its advertisements and the exclusive campaign have been blatantly copied by the defendants. The plaintiff issued a legal notice on June 11, 2010 which referred to the plaintiffs advertisement campaign and claimed that its advertisements had, "achieved a trademark signification, thereby making it exclusively associated with" the plaintiff. The notice referred to the distinctiveness of the plaintiffs campaign having been acknowledged at an advertisements awards ceremony and complained that the defendants' similar advertising and marketing programme had copied the plaintiff s campaign in "slavishly and unimaginatively ... depicting Greek words between English expressions ..." The cease and desist notice complained of the defendants creating "(c)onfusion and deception in the minds of the public who may presume a connection, collaboration or association with our Client" that would prejudice the plaintiff's interest. The letter signed off by alleging that the defendants' conduct amounted not only to unfair trade practice but also to "infringement of intellectual property rights of our Client.";