Mumbai, March 10: Observing that Hinglish (blending of Hindi and English) is common in India’s linguistic landscape, the Bombay High Court has held that a combination of a clipped English word with a Hindi word does not, prima facie, make a trademark inherently distinctive.
Court observation on Hinglish trademarks
Justice Sharmila Deshmukh made the observation while dismissing an interim application filed by astrologer Rajeev Prakash Agarwal, who trades as Astro Dunia, seeking to restrain Tata Play Limited from using the expression “Astro Duniya” for its astrology-related television channel.
“The combination of the clipped version of the English word with the Hindi word prima facie does not make it inherently distinctive in our country where there is a tendency of blending Hindi and English and spoken as such,” the court observed.
Astrologer claims prior use of mark
Agarwal had claimed use of the mark “Astro Dunia” since August 2005 for astrological and spiritual consultancy services. He contended that the mark was a coined and arbitrary expression formed by combining “Astro” from English and “Dunia” from Hindi, and argued that it constituted the essential feature of his registered label mark.
Tata Play calls expression descriptive
Tata Play opposed the plea, arguing that the expression was descriptive and merely denoted a “world of astrology.” The company also pointed out that its services involve broadcasting astrology-related television content to subscribers through its platform and that the expression is used alongside its prominent house mark “TATA PLAY.”
Court finds expression descriptive
Examining the plaintiff’s mark, the court held that the words “Astro Dunia”, accompanied by a star device, were descriptive of the services offered. The judge also noted that the plaintiff’s own invoices used the tagline “Your World of Astrology,” reinforcing the descriptive nature of the expression.
The court further emphasised that the trademark registration was granted with a statutory disclaimer stating that the registration would not confer exclusive rights over descriptive elements and that the label must be used as a whole.
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Holding that permitting a proprietor to claim a disclaimed portion as the essential feature would render the disclaimer meaningless, the court found no prima facie case of trademark infringement or passing off and dismissed the interim application in Rajeev Prakash Agarwal vs Tata Play Limited & Ors.
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