Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, Delhi High Court single-judge bench, on Monday, ordered Google and Facebook to block 25 websites, accounts and pages accused of infringing on the ‘Aaj Tak’ trademark and misleading consumers into believing that these ‘anonymous’ websites are somehow connected to the Aaj Tak brand.
A similar injunction against four defendants was issued by the High Court in September 2020 and it has now been extended to another 25 websites.
All of these websites, as well as Google, Facebook and other Domain Name Registrars, have been impleaded as parties to the case by the court, which has sent notices to them and asked them to answer by the third week of October.
The parent company of the Aaj Tak brand, Living Media India Ltd, had argued in court that anonymous websites posing as Aaj Tak were deceiving and misleading the general public into believing that these anonymous sites were linked to the Aaj Tak brand, resulting in significant losses to the brand’s goodwill and reputation.
The bench ordered an ex-parte injunction in favour of Aaj Tak, instructing Google and Facebook to block/suspend 25 similar pages labelled ‘Aaj Tak Live,’ ‘Aaj Tak India News,’ ‘E-Aaj Tak,’ and so on, prima facie agreeing with the plaintiff.
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The Delhi High Court’s ruling goes a long way toward safeguarding a news brand from false news and fraudulent screen captures, which have resulted in widespread misinformation being distributed in the name of journalism, particularly during the pandemic.
The company used the same point in their petition, stating that ‘recent proliferation of anonymous websites is not a mere coincidence but is actuated by malafide to take advantage of the vulnerability of innocent viewers in such unprecedented times of the pandemic and ride upon the stronghold enjoyed by Aaj Tak.’
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