In February, Kochhar & Co successfully represented ITC with respect to its brand Wills, which was being misused on the internet.
Wills is a well-known Indian trademark associated with a wide range of consumer products including cigarettes, personal care products and other specialty items.
Mark Segal of Namegiant.com, a domain broker, had registered the domain name “www.wills.in”. ITC alleged that this constituted a violation of its proprietary right to the Wills trademark on the grounds that the domain name was identical, and therefore misleading. The company argued that the registration had been granted to someone who had no legitimate right or interest in the name, and that it amounted to cyber-squatting.
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Kochhar & Co filed a complaint with the .in registry on behalf of ITC. The arbitral tribunal subsequently ordered that the disputed domain name be transferred to ITC, maintaining that Mark Segal had no legitimate interest in the disputed domain name and that his intention was simply to generate revenue either through the commercial use or sale of the domain name.
Rodney Ryder, a partner and head of the technology practice at Kochhar & Co, said: “In today’s IT age, a domain name is the virtual address of a company, a web mark so to speak. In light of the extreme goodwill and faith that people have as regards the origin and quality of Wills lifestyle products, allowing this domain name registration would be harmful to the ITC/Wills brand.”
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