a day ago
Bombay high court dismisses TikTok plea challenging ‘well-known' trademark status denial
Mumbai: Bombay high court dismissed a petition filed by TikTok Ltd that challenged the refusal by the trademarks registrar to recognise 'TikTok' as a well-known mark under the trademark laws in India.
Justice Manish Pitale, in a June 10 order, said that it was obvious that due to the ban imposed by the govt of India against TikTok, its mark cannot be used. The reasons for the ban pertain to the sovereignty and integrity of India, its defence, and public order, the HC noted. "These are serious matters, which cannot be ignored," said the HC, holding that hence the registrar "did take into consideration relevant factors while refusing to include TikTok in well-known marks" and no error can be attributed to the assistant registrar who on Oct 31, 2023, denied its application.
TikTok was launched in 2017. In two years, it had a presence in 155 markets and 75 languages, said the company seeking entry into the 'well-known' marks category.
The HC said it is undisputed that the TikTok app remains banned in India. The HC said the registrar found that there was material indicating that the ban on TikTok was also in the backdrop of concerns regarding data privacy of the users and the fact that the servers are located in China. The said respondent also referred to certain instances indicating that pictures of some women and girls downloaded from TikTok were found to be morphed and that there were cases of cyberbullying and sexually explicit content.
"Thus", the HC said, "merely because the ban on certain other applications has been lifted cannot be a ground for the petitioner to claim that the impugned order is rendered erroneous."
Follow more information on
Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here
. Get
real-time live updates
on rescue operations and check
full list of passengers onboard AI 171
.
