The Bombay High Court recently granted interim stay on an order of a single-judge directing GoDaddy, an internet domain registrar, to notify Swiggy everytime a domain name containing the mark “Swiggy” is registered.
The stay order was passed by a division bench of Justice KR Shriram and Justice Rajesh Patil on an appeal filed by GoDaddy against a January 23 ruling of Justice Manish Pitale directing GoDaddy to notify Swiggy whenever a domain name bearing the mark ‘Swiggy’ is registered.
In November 2022, Swiggy has filed a copyright infringement complaint in the High Court against those who used domain names that were confusingly close to its trademark.
A single-judge of the High Court ordered GoDaddy to stop current and future registrations of domain names using the mark ‘Swiggy’ while Swiggy’s lawsuit was pending.
GoDaddy then filed an application to have the order modified.
In January this year, the order was modified by the single bench Justice Pitale and GoDaddy was directed to instead notify Swiggy of any violation so that appropriate action might be taken.
The court delivered the order with Swiggy’s interests in mind and in light of a ‘unusual circumstance’ in which organisations acting as Swiggy associates were duping individuals out of money with the promise of getting them on board the ‘Swiggy Instamart’ platform.
GoDaddy then filed the current appeal against the order of Judge Pitale’s single bench.
