ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED vs AJEET KUMAR AND OTHERS
$~35
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision:-10th November, 2023.
+ CS(COMM) 420/2023, I.As. 22536/2023 & 22537/2023
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED ….. Plaintiff
Through: Mr. Prithvi Singh and Mr. Shiv, Advs. (M. 8860680136)
versus
AJEET KUMAR AND OTHERS ….. Defendants
Through: Mr. Dileep Poolakkot, Mr. Mohd Siddick and Mr. Shivam Sai Advs. for Federal Bank (M. 9868816661).
Mr. Mrinal Ojha, Mr. Debarshi Dutta, Mr. Anand Raja and Ms. Tanya Chaudhry, Advs. for D-8 (M. 9540480144)
Mr. Alipak Banerjee & Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal Advs. for D-9,11 &35 (M. 9987115749).
Mr. Arjun Basra, Advocate for Ms. Hetu Arora Sethi, ASC GNCTD (M: 9971690867).
Mr. Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, CGSC, with Mr. Srish Kumar Mishra, Mr. Alexander Mathai Paikaday, Mr. M Sriram and Mr. Krishnan V., Advs. (M: 9810788606).
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
Prathiba M. Singh, J.(Oral)
1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.
I.A. 22537/2023 ( for exemption)
2. Allowed subject to all just exceptions. Application is disposed of.
I.A. 22536/2023 ( for modification)
3. This is an application moved by the Applicant i.e., Defendant No. 11-Top Level Domains LLC, which is a registrar of various domain names, functioning through its website www.networksolutions.com. It claims to have more than 70,000 customers in India. It is also a part of the Newfold Group which is the parent company of Newfold Digital Inc., a US based Company, which states to offer a range of products and services that help companies grow their business through online presence. It is stated that Defendant No.11 is a registrar, however it serves as a redirect for Network Solutions LLC. There are two other affiliate companies of the said Defendant in India, namely, BigRock Solutions Limited-Defendant No. 35 and Endurance Digital Domain Technology LLP-Defendant No. 9.
4. In the present case, the Plaintiff- Asian Paints Ltd. has sent various orders of this Court for compliance, to the above three registrars namely, Defendant No.11, Defendant No.9 and Defendant No.35 . Unfortunately, the Applicant i.e. Defendant No. 11-Top Level Domains LLC did not comply with the order despite repeatedly being communicated the same. In view thereof, order dated 16th August, 2023 was passed with the following directions:-
16. This is an application seeking directions against the Domain Name Registrars which have failed to comply with the orders of this Court. According to the Plaintiff, M/s Gname 019 Inc. and Top Level Domain LLC have not furnished the particulars relating to the www.asianpaintsdealerships.com and www.asianpaintsfranchisee.com despite specific orders.
17. Insofar as Top Level Domain LLC is concerned, since it has refused even to respond to notice issued by the Plaintiff, Mr. Harish Vaidyanathan, ld. CGSC is requested to accept notice on behalf of the DoT. In view of orders blocking services of DNRs having already been passed in CS (Comm) 567/2022 titled Star India Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. v. MHDTV.WORLD & Ors. and CS (Comm) 604/2022 titled Star India Pvt. Ltd. v. 7MOVIERULZ.TC & Ors., this Court is of the view that action in accordance with law shall be taken against Top Level Domain LLC and its services shall be suspended by DoT, within 4 weeks.
5. The application now states that in view of the said order which was passed, the business of the Applicant-Top Level Domains LLC was considerably impacted as its services in India were blocked by DoT. It is further claimed by the Applicant that it was informed by the customers that they were unable to access the website with the domain name www.networksolutions.com. It was only, thereafter, that the Company realized the fact that there was non-compliance with the Court order passed by this Court. However, Defendant No. 9 and Defendant No, 35 complied with the order dated 16th August, 2023, and locked and suspended the domain names registered by them. The registrant details of the said domain names were also informed to the Plaintiffs counsel through an email dated 28th August, 2023.
6. It is now submitted that the domain name asianpaintsfranchisee.com has been locked and suspended. The same is also stated to be informed to the Plaintiffs counsel through an email dated 1st November, 2023. The applicant Company also expresses its regret for the earlier non-compliance of the orders as stated in paragraph 17 of the 16th August, 2023 order.
7. The Court does not accept the submission on behalf of counsel for the applicant i.e.,Defendant No.11, that due to a technical glitch in the mail id domain.operations@web.com, there was non compliance of the directions given in the order dated 2nd June, 2023 and 16th August, 2023.
8. However, in view of the unconditional apology and the fact that 70,000 customers could be impacted, the Court takes a liberal view of the matter. The said Applicant shall now ensure that any orders passed by Courts in India are duly given effect to. For the said purpose, the Applicant has appointed Mr. Raviraj Parab, as the grievance officer with the email i.e., grievanceofficer@newfold.com. For all future purposes, it shall be noted that the said Grievance Officer details shall be mentioned in the memo of parties of all the registrars, namely, Defendant No. 11-Top Level Domains LLC, Defendant No. 35-BigRock Solutions Limited and Defendant No. 9-Endurance Digital Domain Technology LLP.
9. The said information of the Grievance Officer be also published by the Registry so that any suits filed with these Companies as Defendants, are served upon the said Grievance Officer.
10. In view of the above discussion and the prayer made in the application, the order dated 16th August, 2023, shall stand recalled to the extent, that the services of the said Defendants were directed to be suspended in India by DoT, subject to payment of Rs.50,000/- as costs to the Delhi High Court Legal Service Committee. The costs shall be deposited by the Applicant, by the next date of hearing.
11. The DoT shall restore the services of the Defendant No. 11-Top Level Domains LLC and its website www.networksolutions.com. within a period of 48 hours from now.
12. Ld. CGSC shall give instructions to the DoT to do the needful.
13. Application is disposed of.
14. Order dasti.
CS(COMM)-420/2023
15. List on the date fixed.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH
JUDGE
NOVEMBER 10, 2023
mr/ks
CS(COMM) 420/2023 Page 2 of 2