Delhi High Court Clears 'SoEasy' Trademark For Hindi Learning Platform, Calls It Suggestive and Distinctive

The Delhi High Court has overturned the Trade Marks Registrar's refusal to register the mark “SoEasy” for a Hindi learning and testing platform, holding that the phrase is suggestive rather than descriptive and is therefore capable of trademark protection. The Court directed the Registrar to process the application for registration. In a judgment delivered on November 24, 2025, Justice Tejas Karia ruled that “SoEasy” does not describe the qualities or characteristics of the goods covered and reaffirmed that while descriptive marks cannot be protected, suggestive trademarks are registrable under the Trade Marks Act.The dispute arose from a 2023 application filed by Ashim Kumar Ghosh seeking registration of “SoEasy” in Class 16 for instructional and teaching material, printed matter and book-binding material. The mark was examined, accepted, and published in the Trade Marks Journal in April 2024. However, in December 2024, the Registrar issued a notice stating that the acceptance had been made in error because the mark lacked distinctiveness. After a hearing, the Registrar refused the application in May 2025, finding “SoEasy” to be laudatory, generic, and incapable of distinguishing Ghosh's goods from those of others. Ghosh challenged the refusal, arguing that the Registrar could not reopen objections that had already been cleared at the examination stage, and that “SoEasy” was an arbitrary, suggestive combination of words. Addressing this threshold issue, the court held that Section 23(1) makes registration expressly subject to Section 19, empowering the Registrar to withdraw acceptance at any stage prior to issuance of a registration certificate. It found no procedural error in the Registrar's decision to revisit acceptanceTurning to distinctiveness, the court applied the test that distinguishes descriptive marks from suggestive ones and held that consumers would need “imagination, thought and perception” to connect “SoEasy” with Ghosh's Hindi language learning platform. The mark may hint that the material or platform makes learning simple, but it does not directly describe any feature of the goods. It observed, “In the present case, the Appellant's Mark 'SoEasy' used for the Appellant's Hindi language learning, teaching and testing platform suggests that the learning, teaching and testing of Hindi language would be made easy and uncomplicated or would require minimal effort, on the Appellant's platform and, therefore, it is suggestive in nature as it would require the consumers' imagination, thought and perception to reach a conclusion regarding the nature of the Appellant's product on offer.” The court concluded that “SoEasy” is a suggestive mark, not a descriptive or generic one and therefore qualifies for trademark protection. Finding the mark neither descriptive nor generic, the court allowed the appeal, set aside the Registrar's refusal, and directed that the application proceed to registration. Case Title: Ashim Kumar Ghosh v. The Registrar Of Trade MarksCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1592 Case Number: C.A.(COMM.IPD-TM) 48/2025 For Appellant: Advocate Sudarshan Kumar Bansal and Advocate Shivendra Pratap Singh For Respondent: Advocates Piyush Beriwal, Vedansh Anand, Ruchita Srivastava and Jyotsana VyasClick Here To Read/Download Order

Delhi High Court Clears 'SoEasy' Trademark For Hindi Learning Platform, Calls It Suggestive and Distinctive

Ayushi Shukla

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