A Delhi high court has banned UK-based online classifieds company Padawan and its website from copying material and contents of OLX, an Indian portal providing an online platform for people to buy and sell used products.
OLX sought a permanent injunction restraining UK-based Padawan from copying material and contents of the Indian portal and from using its logo and trademark saying it would amount to “passing off” and “trademark infringement”.
It had alleged that Padawan was “lifting” several listings of products from its website and displaying it on TheGoodDeal.in.
OLX, which claims to have operations in over 40 countries, had sought blocking of Padawan’s website TheGoodDeal, terming it as a “rogue site”.
It had claimed that by using its trademarks as meta-tags, which are codes used by search engines to access webpage content, Padawan was allegedly attempting to “confuse web search engines into believing that there is a connection between the two”, thereby boosting visibility of its website.
OLX, which claims to be operating in India since 2008, had contended that it was “likely to suffer dilution of goodwill, reputation and positive associations” linked to its trademarks “occasioned by the loss of distinctiveness, uniqueness and exclusivity attached thereto”.
