Bombay High Court Restrains Publishers Of “The New Indian Express” From Using The Name Outside Southern States

The Bombay High Court has restrained Express Publications (Madurai) Pvt. Ltd. from using the title “The New Indian Express” outside the southern states for which it was granted rights, holding that the trademark “Indian Express” is exclusively owned by The Indian Express (P) Ltd.

A single bench of Justice R I Chagla passed the order on November 13, 2025, allowing the interim application filed by Indian Express.

The Court held that Express Publications' use of “New Indian Express” outside the specified southern states and Union Territories went beyond limited permission granted under settlement agreements between the parties.

The dispute arises from a 1995 Memorandum of Settlement (MoS), which was later made a consent decree by the Madras High Court in 1997, along with a Supplemental MoS executed in 2005. Under these agreements, Indian Express retained absolute ownership of the “Indian Express” mark, and Express Publications was granted a limited right to use the title “The New Indian Express” only for publishing its newspaper in five southern states and certain specified Union Territories.

Indian Express approached the Bombay High Court after Express Publications held an event titled “The New Indian Express – Mumbai Dialogues” in Mumbai in September 2024.

It argued that any use of the title outside the agreed territories, whether for publication, promotion, or commercial events, violated the MoS, infringed its registered trademark, and amounted to passing off.

Express Publications responded that the MoS did not expressly prohibit advertising or promoting its newspaper outside the southern states.

The court observed that the MoS and Supplemental MoS, which were recorded as a decree, must be interpreted according to their plain terms. The court found that the limited permission to use “The New Indian Express” was confined to publication within specific territories and did not extend to promotion, advertising, or events in other regions.

The court also noted that “Indian Express” is solely owned by Indian Express and that adding the word “New” to the registered mark does not give the Express Publication any wider or independent rights to use the title outside those territories.

On a prima facie view, the Court found that “The New Indian Express” exists only because of the settlement arrangements and does not grant any broader rights to its user.

“The Plaintiff [The Indian Express] being the absolute owner of the trademark “Indian Express” along with goodwill and reputation that the mark has generated since 1932 is entitled to restrain the Defendant from the use of 'New Indian Express' outside of the permitted territories, to promote its sponsored events. Such use is beyond the permissive user granted by the Plaintiff, contrary to the consent decree between the parties and amounts to infringement and passing off of the Plaintiff's registered trademark.”, the Court said.

The court held that Indian Express (P) Ltd. had established a strong prima facie case for interim relief, noting that the balance of convenience lies in its favour and that use of “New Indian Express” outside the specified territories violated the settlement terms and risked diluting the “Indian Express” mark. Consequently, the Court made the interim application absolute.

Case Title: The Indian Express (P) Ltd v. Express Publications (Madurai) Pvt Ltd

Case No: IA (L) NO. 31555/ 2024

For the Plaintiff: Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, Advocates Arun Mohan, Abhinav Chandrachud, Pranit Kulkarni, Chanan Parwani, Tejasvi Ghag and  Shivam Singh instructed by Advocate Poorvi Kamani

For the Defendant: Senior Advocate Zal Andhyarujina, Revati Desai instructed by Advocate Deepak Chitnis

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