Facebook group ownership recovery not a trademark dispute: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has observed that the recovery and restoration of ownership of a group on Facebook cannot be termed as a dispute relating to trademark and intellectual property, and hence a civil court has the jurisdiction to hear a suit seeking such a declaration.

The HC was hearing a plea filed by The Himalayan Club challenging an order of a civil court. In August 2022, the lower court held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the suit as the matter pertains to trademark and intellectual property.

According to the plea, the Club had asked one of its office-bearers, Kanwar Singh, to create internet-based chat groups for better social media outreach. Accordingly, Singh created a Facebook group. However, Singh took undue advantage of his position and started claiming that the plaintiff had no connection to the said FB group and tried to usurp control of the said group, it said.

Justice Nitin Sambre said that the FB group is in no way claimed to be a registered trademark of the plaintiff club which Singh allegedly infringed.

"As such, it cannot be said that the Facebook platform is a trademark or copyright. It cannot be said that the recovery and restoration of a Facebook Group can be termed to be a dispute relating to trademark," the order said.

The judge quashed the order of the city civil court observing that the lower court’s conclusion regarding the trademark and intellectual property, cannot be accepted.