Delhi High Court Orders Removal Of Fake IndiaMart Websites, Blocks WhatsApp Accounts

The Delhi High Court has granted an interim injunction in favour of IndiaMart Intermesh Limited against unidentified persons allegedly operating fake websites, WhatsApp accounts, and bank accounts using the company's INDIAMART marks. The Court also directed the takedown of specified URLs and blocking of identified WhatsApp accounts.

Justice Jyoti Singh passed the order on May 26 while dealing with a suit filed by IndiaMart. The company alleged that unidentified persons were operating fake websites using its INDIAMART marks and copying elements of its website and mobile application.

Holding that the requirements for grant of interim relief were satisfied, the Court observed,

"Having heard learned counsel for the Plaintiff and upon perusal of the documents, I am of the view that Plaintiff has made out a prima facie for grant of ex parte ad interim injunction against the Defendants. Balance of convenience lies in favour of the Plaintiff and it is likely to suffer irreparable harm in case the interim injunction, as prayed for, is not granted."

IndiaMart claimed that unidentified persons were hosting fake websites using its INDIAMART marks. It alleged that these persons were impersonating the company's genuine registered sellers by sending emails and WhatsApp messages containing links to those websites.

According to the plaint, the websites copied the look and feel, trade dress and graphical user interface of IndiaMart's platform. The company alleged that the websites were being used to obtain unauthorised access to sellers' accounts.

IndiaMart stated that it has been operating its business-to-business online marketplace since 1996. It also claimed ownership of multiple registrations for the INDIAMART mark and asserted copyright in the layout, presentation and graphical user interface of its website and mobile application.

The court restrained the unidentified operators from operating fake URLs, WhatsApp accounts and bank accounts using the INDIAMART marks or deceptive variants thereof. The injunction also restrains use of IndiaMart's copyrighted works, including its website content, mobile application content, website layout, arrangement and presentation of features, trade dress, graphical user interface, colour combination and promotional content.

The court directed Vercel, a cloud infrastructure and platform-as-a-service provider, to suspend, disable or remove seven URLs identified in Annexure A to the order. Netlify, which provides similar hosting and deployment services, was directed to suspend, disable or remove eight other URLs identified in the same annexure. GitHub was directed to disable access to a specified repository. These directions are to be complied with within 36 hours of receipt of the order.

WhatsApp was directed to block the accounts associated with the mobile numbers identified in Annexure B. It was also directed to disclose basic subscriber information relating to those numbers within three weeks.

Punjab National Bank was directed to disclose KYC details of the holder of a specified bank account. Bharti Airtel was directed to suspend a specified mobile number and disclose the KYC details of its registrant.

The court also directed Vercel, GitHub, and Netlify to preserve records relating to the identified websites. They were further directed to disclose available information concerning the operators of those websites, including account identifiers, registered email addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, and login history, within three weeks.