Bombay High Court Cancels C21 Trademarks Registered by Century 21 Town Planners, Cites Dishonest Adoption

“The contention that the marks are dissimilar needs only to be stated to be rejected. This contention once again brings to the fore the dishonesty and inconsistency in the conduct of Respondent No. 1, since Respondent No. 1 has itself relied upon “CENTURY 21 TOWN PLANNERS” to assert rights in “C21”, thereby acknowledging the association between the two.”, the court observed.

Justice Arif S. Doctor was hearing multiple petitions challenging four trademark registrations obtained by the respondent in 2010.

The petitioner contended that it had prior statutory and common law rights in the marks “CENTURY 21” and “C21,” which had been used globally for decades in relation to real estate services.

The court noted that Century 21 Real Estate LLC, incorporated in the United States in 1971, operates a global real estate franchise network across several countries and has long used “C21” as a well-known abbreviation of its “CENTURY 21” brand. The petitioner also placed material showing its registrations in multiple jurisdictions, international franchise operations, and brand recognition across the real estate industry.

It was argued that the respondent had incorporated the petitioner's mark “CENTURY 21” into its corporate name and secured registration for a “C21” device mark despite operating in the same real estate sector. The petitioner submitted that such adoption was deliberate and designed to benefit from its global reputation.

Rejecting the respondent's defence of prior use in India, the court found that the material relied upon by the respondent did not support its claim of use from 2007. The court said the earliest documents evidencing use of the mark “C21” were found to be from 2010.

Holding that the impugned marks were identical or deceptively similar to the petitioner's earlier marks and were adopted without bona fide explanation, the High Court directed rectification of the trademark register and ordered cancellation of the impugned registrations

For Petitioner: Advocates Shwetasree Majumder, Janhvi Chadha, Priya Adlakha, Dhirendra Singh, Aishwarya Ambardekar, Bimal Rajasekhar

For Respondent: Advocates Pooja Jain, Bhavi Gada