HC restrains website from using 'airtel'

New Delhi, July 23 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today restrained a website from using Airtel in its name as it was a registered domain name of telecom major Bharti Airtel.

Granting an exparte injunction against www.airteldirectory.com, Justice G S Sistani ruled that Airtel is a registered trademark of Bharti Airtel Limited and if anyone else uses it without prior permission from the company amounts to ''misuse''.

The court noted that the telecom company has its own website by the name of www.airtelworld.com.

Notices were issued in this regard to Kolkata-based Tamal Das Gupta and a Mumbai-based company Direct Internet Solutions to appear before the the court on September 28.

Bharti Airtel has also sought Rs 21 lakh as damages from the respondents for using their brand.

Counsel for the company contended that the defendants had tried to hide their identity by adopting the privacy protect feature which was disabled only on a formal request by Bharti Airtel thereby revealing the names of the offenders.

UNI