The Hon’ble Delhi High Court has, in a suit for permanent injunction filed by Sequoia Capital Operations LLC, Peak XV Partners Operations LLC, and Peak XV Partners Advisors India LLP, against multiple defendants, restrained the latter from unauthorized use of any kind of the plaintiffs’ trade marks, in particular, SEQUOIA, SEQUOIA CAPITAL, PEAK XV and formatives.
In August 2023, one of the plaintiffs was contacted about their potential association with one of the defendants, Senee Investment Group Co. Ltd., due to a job post featuring their trade marks, indicating alleged links between the two. An investigation by the plaintiffs revealed that various entities, including the defendants, misrepresenting themselves as plaintiffs, are using the plaintiffs’ trade marks on social media, sham testimonials, false press releases, and mirror websites.
The court ruled that defendants are unauthorizedly attracting consumers under false association with plaintiffs, damaging their reputation and public interest, based on the aforementioned facts. Accordingly, the court restrained the defendants from using the plaintiffs’ trade marks in any manner, whatsoever. The court also directed the defendants to, among other things, disclose the IP addresses used to create fake social media pages, block fraudulent channels on instant messaging applications, and suspend domain names related to their mirror websites.
Sequoia Capital Operations LLC and Ors. vs. Seene Trader and Ors., CS (COMM) 109/2024