Saket Court Rejects Jagran Prakashan's Trademark Claim Over “JAGRAN”, Imposes ₹10 Lakh Costs

The Saket District Court at New Delhi, on 25 May dismissed Jagran Prakashan Limited's trademark infringement and passed off suit against agricultural magazine Krishi Jagran, holding that a proprietor cannot monopolise a commonly used word through trademark registration when another party has established prior and continuous use.

District Judge Arul Varma vacated the injunction order dated 29 September 2020, and imposed costs of Rs. 10 lakhs on Jagran Prakashan for dragging the defendants into “unnecessary and protracted litigation.” He held:

“Drawing analogy, if the word 'Times' is registered as a Trademark or if an entity claims to be a prior user of the word 'Times', newspapers like 'Times of India', 'Hindustan Times', 'Navbharat Times' etc. would cease to be in publication. That cannot be the intention of the legislature.”

Jagran Prakashan, established in 1942 and publisher of the widely circulated Dainik Jagran newspaper, instituted the suit in 2019 alleging that Krishi Jagran, an agricultural monthly magazine run by Mezhukanal Cherian Dominic, infringed its registered trademark “JAGRAN” and passed off its publication as connected with the Jagran Group.

The plaintiff contended that the defendants had expanded from print into digital platforms across 12 languages and that use of the word “JAGRAN” as an essential feature of their brand caused consumer confusion.

The defendants argued that Krishi Jagran had been continuously published since September 1996, well before the plaintiff's trademark application filed in December 2004. They further submitted that Jagran Prakashan itself had acted as a media partner with Krishi Jagran since 2004 and, therefore, had knowledge of the defendants' publication for more than 15 years before filing the suit in 2019.

Rejecting the plaintiff's claim over the word “JAGRAN,” the Court found that the defendants were prior users of the mark. It also accepted the defendants' objection on delay and held that the plaintiff could not seek to restrain a publication whose existence and operations were long within its knowledge.

The Bench further observed that the suit appeared designed to “extirpate a competitor by means which are contrary to law” and deprecated such litigation as an attempt to “curb the fundamental right of speech and expression of the defendants.”

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the suit, vacated the interim injunction granted on 29 September 2020, and imposed costs of Rs. 10 lakhs on Jagran Prakashan.