Delhi High Court Restrains Princeton Schools & Colleges From Opening New Institutions In Plea By US-Based Princeton University

The Delhi High Court has granted partial relief to prestigious Princeton University in the United States, by restraining Hyderabad based educational institutions using the name 'Princeton' from opening any new institutions with the said name.A division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Renu Bhatnagar passed the order while hearing the US varsity's appeal against a single bench order declining interim injunction in its trademark infringement suit.The suit was filed against Vagdevi Educational Society which runs the Princeton School of Education, Princeton School of Engineering and Technology, Princeton Degree and PG College, Princeton PG College of Information Technology, Princeton PG College of Management and Princeton College of Pharmacy.The single judge had ruled that merely because several Indians may have studied at Princeton University in the US would not amount to “use” by the American Ivy League college of its “Princeton” mark in India for providing its services in terms of the Trade Marks Act.While setting aside this order, the division bench opined that the moment it is conceded that Indian students are availing the services of the Appellant-University while they are still in India, it cannot be said that the services of the Appellant are not available in India.It said, “once the claimant has established that there are customers for the claimant's services in a jurisdiction, though not necessarily in a real market but through use of its mark in a more subtle way, then the claimant stands in the same position as a domestic trader and it may bring an action by establishing its goodwill in the jurisdiction in which it claims that the defendants are trying to pass off their goods under the brand name of the claimant's goods.”The single judge had also refused to accept newspaper articles about the US-varsity as “use of the trade mark”.The division bench however referred to Section 2(2)(c)(ii) of the Trademarks Act which defines “use of a mark”, in relation to services and held that the provision does not stipulate that the use of the mark is to be by the proprietor alone.“Use of a mark is defined as a use thereof to make a statement about the availability, provision or performance of such services in relation to which the mark is used. Therefore, as long as the above test is met, that is, there is a statement made about the availability, provision or performance of the service in relation to which the mark is used, it is irrelevant if such statement is being made by the proprietor itself or by a third party,” it said and granted interim relief.Appearance: Mr.Chander M. Lall, Sr. Adv. with Ms.Nancy Roy, Ms.Ananya Chug and Ms.Annanya Mehan, Advs. for Appellant; Mr.J. Sai Deepak, Sr. Adv. with Mr.Avinash Kumar Sharma, Mr.P. Mohith Rao and Mr.Eugene S. Philomene, Advs. for R-1 to R-7Case title: The Trustees Of Princeton University v. The Vagdevi Educational Society & Ors.Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1198Case no.: FAO(OS) (COMM) 239/2023 Click here to read order

Delhi High Court Restrains Princeton Schools & Colleges From Opening New Institutions In Plea By US-Based Princeton University

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