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The bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna held, “TATA has already been declared as a wellknown mark. Further, late Mr. Ratan Tata, who was the Chairman of the plaintiff no. 2, is a well-known figure and his name as such is liable to be protected and cannot be used by any third party without any consent or authorization, from the plaintiffs",
The Delhi High Court, recently, restrained Rajat Shrivastava, a journalist, and founder of Delhi Today Group from using trademarks, including ‘TATA’, ‘TATA TRUSTS’, and the well-known personal name ‘RATAN TATA’, along with his photograph.
The court opined, “The defendant no. 1 has intentionally put up posts which wrongly claim association with the plaintiff… in order to induce, cheat and mislead gullible members of public by promising them association with/ endorsement from the plaintiffs… This is, prima facie, a bad faith and egregious infringement of plaintiffs’ statutory and legal rights, in order to have a free ride on the tremendous goodwill of the plaintiffs”.
Sir Ratan Tata Trust claimed that Delhi Today Group, led by Rajat Srivastava, misrepresented an event called ‘THE RATAN TATA NATIONAL ICON AWARD 2024’, scheduled for December 2024, by charging fees and falsely associating it with the Tata Group. Despite the Trust’s efforts, such as sending representatives to verify the event and issuing a takedown notice, Srivastava continued to mislead the public.
In January 2025, Srivastava announced another event, the ‘RATAN TATA NATIONAL ICON AWARD 2025’, and continued making false claims about their association with Trust. The trust issued a clarification to distance themselves from the event but faced further challenges, including the deletion of their comments by Srivastava on social media. Investigations into the event venues revealed inconsistent information about the event’s legitimacy. Srivastava also released a list of awardees, further misrepresenting the Trust’s involvement. These actions caused the public to mistakenly believe Trust endorsed the event and awards.
The court noted that Shri Ratan Naval Tata, widely known as RATAN TATA, did not require any introduction. “He can modestly be described as India’s leading philanthropic industrialist, who was a pioneer in the field of business and entrepreneurship. For his monumental contributions to the field of Indian industry and philanthropy, he was honored with Padma Bhushan in the year 2000 and with the country’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibushan in the year 2008, which are two of India’s most prestigious civilian awards”
The court further observed that Shri Ratan Tata's name, besides being a personal name, acquired a distinctive character, gaining popularity across various fields, whether as an industry leader, entrepreneur, or philanthropist. This well-known name granted him and his successors the right to prevent others from using it without authorization.
Additionally, the court noted that this case involves clear fraud, with Srivastava misusing the Trust's registered marks and the well-known personal name of Shri Ratan Tata to defraud the public into paying a nomination fee that they otherwise would not have paid.
Srivastava’s actions, including unauthorized use of the Trust’s marks and personal name, amount to fraud and infringement of the Trust’s statutory and legal rights. Srivastava’s actions were aimed at benefiting from the goodwill associated with Trust and the late Ratan Tata’s well-regarded public persona.
Accordingly, considering the submissions made before the Court, the suit was decreed in favor of Trust and against Srivastava.
For Plaintiff: Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar with Advocates Pravin Anand, Achuthan Sreekumar, Swastik Bisarya and Saurabh SethFor Defendant: Advocate MaitreyaCase Title: Sir Ratan Tata Trust v Rajat Shrivastava (2025:DHC:793)
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