The Bombay High Court ruling reinforced the boundaries of trademark licensing, and rejected the appeal filed by Express Publications Madurai (EPM) against The Indian Express. The controversy broke out when EPM organised ‘The New Indian Express – Mumbai Dialogues’ in September 2024. This event was a violation of a settlement and consent decree in respect of this mark by EPM, the Indian Express filed a suit on this ground.
The Single Judge held that EPM has a limited licence and does not own the trademark or the derivation of the trademark. The New Indian Express is derived from the original Indian Express trademark. Using outside of authorised zones was a violation. The Division Bench upheld this judgement and granted an injunction holding that the contractual restrictions imposed in the trademark arrangement should be strictly adhered to.
Thus the court held that a licence which provides for a geographical limitation will not be enforceable.
Researched and Authored by Sai Ram B.