The Delhi High Court on 21 September held that a social-media influencer’s use of Niva Bupa’s mark merely to identify the company while discussing consumer and regulatory matters was not use “in the course of trade” under Section 29 of the Trade Marks Act. The Court permitted withdrawal with liberty to file an ordinary civil suit, but imposed a notional ₹1 cost for misusing its specialised IP jurisdiction.
Judge / Bench — Justice A. J. Bhambhani.
Advocates appearing — For the plaintiffs — Ankur Khandelwal, Ankita Panikkar, Yash Jain, Prashant Shivam and Himanshu Sharma. For defendant 1 — Suhail Sehgal and Lakshay Singh. For defendant 3 — Varun Pathak, Sana Banyal and Komal Pathak. For defendant 4 — Ekta Sharma, Udit Tewari and Surabhi Katare.