Delhi HC Temporarily Injuncts Use Of Bharatpay Trademark

In a new twist to the Bharatpay vs BharatPe case, the Delhi High Court has temporarily injuncted the use of former’s trademark after coming to an initial conclusion that it is similar to the mark used by the latter.

A Bar and Bench report said that Justice Amit Bansal, in an interim order passed on March 25, noted that just like BharatPe, Bharatpay (defendant) is involved in offering UPI and other payment services and the two trademarks are phonetically identical.

The court also found visual and structural similarities in the two trademarks, the report added. 

“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.

Further, on grounds of the nature of business, where Bharatpay also engages in offering data recharge services, payment of utility bills, insurance services and other financial services, similar to that of BharatPe, the court informed that Bharatpay also has a mobile app, and a cease and desist notice issued to them elicited no response.

The next hearing in the matter is scheduled on September 10.

BharatPe’s consolidated revenue from operations grew 39% to INR 1,426 Cr in FY24 from INR 1,029 Cr in the previous year. The Peak XV Partners-backed fintech unicorn also claimed its consolidated EBITDA loss, excluding share based payment expenses, declined 75% to INR 209 Cr in the reported year, from INR 826 Cr in FY23.

BharatPe Vs PhonePe Trademark Dispute & What Followed

In 2018, PhonePe issued a cease and desist notice to BharatPe, demanding that they cease using the brand name “BharatPe” with ‘Pe’ written in Devanagari script. As a result, BharatPe discontinued using that specific format and switched to using “BharatPe” exclusively for its services.

After five-long years of legal dispute with PhonePe over multiple courtrooms regarding the use of the trademark with the suffix, the fintech unicorns came to a settlement in May 2024

Other Trademark Disputes

In May 2024, Tesla Inc filed a trademark infringement suit in the Delhi HC against Tesla Power India, alleging the company was using the ‘Tesla’ name and logo to mislead consumers of its relation with Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company.

This week, Tesla and Tesla Power sought the court’s urgent hearing as the mediation efforts remain unresolved on their trademark dispute. Justice Saurabh Banerjee agreed to hear the US electric vehicle giant ‘s trademark infringement dispute on April 15.

Prior to that, Upstox approached the high court against unidentified individuals, who were operating fraudulent websites and social media groups impersonating the company’s brand name, logo, and copyrighted images to deceive customers, leading to financial losses and reputational harm to the platform.

The Delhi court granted an interim injunction in favour of the brokerage in January, restraining unknown entities from infringing upon the platform’s registered trademarks and copyrighted materials. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled on May 20.