Delhi High Court Permanently Injuncts ‘Satta Dream 11’ In Trademark Infringement Suit By ‘Dream 11’

Ruling in favour of fantasy sports platform Dream 11, the Delhi High Court has granted permanent injunction against a website offering similar sports betting services under the mark “Satta Dream 11.”Justice Prathiba M Singh observed that the domain name www.sattadream11.com is nothing but a “malafide attempt” to ride on the goodwill of Sporta Technologies’ registered trademark Dream11. “The said mark is completely arbitrary and thus very distinctive. The said marks, ‘Dream11’ and ‘sattadream 11’ are similar and there is a high chance of confusion between the two marks. This is especially true on the internet, where the difference between such domain names would not be easily discernible,” the court observed. Sporta Technologies had filed the trademark infringement suit last year against Unfading OPC Private Limited, an entity who owned and operated the website www.sattadream11.com and logo Satta Dream 11. On April 01, 2022, an ex parte ad- interim injunction order was granted in favour of Sporta Technologies. During the hearing on July 07, the court noted that the defendant entity failed to enter appearance despite service regardless of repeated attempts.“Accordingly, the Defendant is proceeded against ex-parte. The interim injunction passed vide order dated 1st April, 2022 is made absolute during the pendency of the suit,” the court ordered. Justice Singh observed that the website www.sattadream11.com was hosting gaming services which were identical to that of Sporta Technologies under an identical or similar name i.e. sattadream11. “Further, considering the nature of the internet, it is possible for similar sounding website names to be presumed as being affiliated, and the use of such similar sounding domain names and that too for identical services inevitably results in passing off of one service as that affiliated, sponsored or connected with the other,” the court said. While decreeing the suit, the court also directed GoDaddy.com LLC to transfer the domain name www.sattadream11.com to Sporta Technologies, subject to payment of any registration charges, if required.Case Title: SPORTA TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD. AND ANR. v. UNFADING OPC PRIVATE LIMITEDCitation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 580Click Here To Read Order

Delhi High Court Permanently Injuncts ‘Satta Dream 11’ In Trademark Infringement Suit By ‘Dream 11’

Nupur Thapliyal

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