The Delhi High Court on Thursday declined an interim plea by DPS Society seeking to restrain the use of the name ‘Delhi Public World School’ for a chain of schools run by a group of DPS alumni, including former Union Minister Salman Khurshid.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said the use of Delhi Public World Foundation (DPWF) was not in violation of an April 2016 order of the High Court restraining the foundation from using ‘DPS’ for its operation.
‘No case of violation’
“…No case of violation by the defendants [the DPWF] of the order dated April 18, 2016, by use of ‘DPWS’ is made out,” the judge said.
DPWF is headed by Louise Khurshid, wife of Mr. Khurshid, who has launched a number of schools with the name ‘Delhi Public World School’ across the country, including in Mohali, Patna and Noida.
Since the past couple of years, the foundation has been embroiled in a protracted court battle with DPS Society over its name, which the latter said is deceptively similar to its name.
The foundation, which earlier used to go by the name ‘DPS World Foundation’, was told by the High Court in April 2016 to stop using ‘DPS’ in its name. Subsequently, it changed the name to Delhi Public World Foundation.
However, its latest iteration was also challenged by DPS Society on the ground that the use of the name ‘Delhi Public World School (DPWS)’ or ‘Delhi Public World Foundation’ is deceptively similar to the name ‘Delhi Public School’.
‘Public face’
The DPS Society had contended that Mr. Khurshid was the public face of the DPS Society for 10 years and cannot be allowed to set up competing educational institutions using DPWS or DPWF as it was likely to convey to the public at large that both are same institution.
