The Delhi High Court has restrained the DPS World Foundation, floated by a group of Delhi Public School alumni and running its schools, from using the DPS name or the trademark crest of the schools, holding that it would amount to trademark infringement of DPS Society.
Justice V. Kameshwar Rao of the High Court directed the foundation to refrain from using the DPS name and its registered mark or any other crest identical or deceptively similar to the registered mark of DPS Society.
The court's order came on a suit filed by DPS Society against the use of words “DPS World” by the foundation.
The society claimed that the distinctive crest with a firelight held in a hand inside a shield had been used by the DPS schools since 1948 and the defendants had misappropriated the name and the mark.
The suit, filed last year, said the foundation was opening schools using the name DPS World School, which amounted to infringement of the Society’s copyright.
The court barred the trustees, members, franchisees, officers, employees, agents, delegates, representatives, associates and all others acting for DPS World Foundation from using or dealing in any manner with the DPS name or crest till the disposal of the suit.
The DPS Society also sought direction to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to shut down the website www.dpsworldfoundation.com and e-mail address operated by the defendants.
While the plaintiff's counsel Sandeep Sethi contended that the DPS World Foundation had acted in a manner which amounted to infringement of its copyright, the latter's counsel Amit Sibal said it did not intend to mislead anyone and did not want to have any association with DPS Society in any manner.
The DPS Society had also claimed in its petition that its distinctive crest had been misappropriated by the defendants
