Delhi High Court Permanently Restrains Fake Websites From Infringing Trademark Of Tata Group's Ginger Hotels, Imposes ₹20L Costs

Noting that the fraudulent websites are bound to deceive a large number of customers into believing that they are associated with Ginger hotels, Justice Mini Pushkarna observed “…it is manifest that the actions of the defendant nos. 1, 8, 9 and 10 in adopting and using the plaintiff's marks, photographs and contents, forged receipts, clearly is malafide, deliberate and intentional. Thus, a clear case of infringement of trademarks and copyright is made out. The defendant's infringing actions are bound to cause deception and confusion in the minds of unwary consumers, who will assume the defendant's impugned websites to have originated from the plaintiff. Therefore, the plaintiff has been able to make a clear case not only of infringement of the plaintiff's trademarks, but of passing off, as well.”

Indian Hotels Company Limited (plaintiff) submitted that in 2004, it launched 'Ginger' hotels. It stated that the Ginger trademarks due to the long and extensive use, promotional and advertisement activities have acquired goodwill and reputation and are solely associated with it.

It submitted that defendant nos. 1, 8, 9 and 10 are operating fraudulent websites 'gingerhotelmumbai.info' and 'hotelgingermumbai.info', which are infringing its trademarks. It stated that the defendants misrepresented their websites as that of its official website 'gingerhotels.com', thereby, misleading users/customers into making payments for hotel bookings.

On 13 December 2023, the Court had granted ex parte ad-interim injunction, directing the defendants to take down the impugned websites. It had also directed the Domain Name Registrar to suspend access to the impugned domains and further banks to freeze the bank accounts used for carrying out the infringing activities.

Comparing the plaintiff's website with impugned websites, the Court noted that the defendants unauthorizedly used the plaintiff's marks 'Ginger on the home page of the impugned websites, along with content and photographs from the plaintiff's official website.

It noted that the defendants were offering rooms at a Ginger hotel in Mumbai. It also took note of the transactions made by the customers to the defendants.

It remarked “In view of the aforesaid, it is established that defendant nos. 1, 8, 9 and 10 are engaged in illegal activities, which are potentially criminal in nature, and are aimed at deceiving unwary consumers by making them pay through their website under the false pretense of securing reservations with the plaintiff's 'GINGER' hotels. Therefore, the aforesaid actions of the said defendants, amount to fraudulent misrepresentation and also constitute an attempt to misappropriate the plaintiff's goodwill and reputation in the market.”

The Court observed that the actions of the defendants violated the plaintiff's trademarks, and copyright and also constituted passing off.

The Court thus issued a permanent injunction against the defendants. It directed defendant nos. 1, 8, 9 and 10 to pay Rs. 20 lakhs to Indian Hotels Company Limited, jointly and severally.

Case title: Indian Hotels Company Limited vs. Ankit Sethi & Ors.

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 413