New Delhi, August 31, 2020: Ms. Justice Mukta Gupta of Hon’ble Delhi High Court has passed a landmark order which will have a far reaching effect on curbing the menace of online frauds which are committed through fake websites which websites impersonate brands like ‘AMUL’ and offer jobs/franchise/dealership to the gullible public who fall prey to such traps and part with substantial money.
The Court, in order to put a stop to such fraudulent activities, which not only infringes the trademark rights of ‘AMUL’ but also jeopardizes the interest of public, directed the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Information Technology and National Internet Exchange of India to block access to such rogue websites.
In a major relief to AMUL which is the country’s biggest dairy brand and a household name, the Court also went on to restrain Domain Registrars like GoDaddy, Name Cheap, Freenom, Big Rock etc from selling or offering for sale domain names with ‘AMUL’ as suffix or prefix, in any combination. The Court observed that being a well-known trademark, ‘AMUL’ deserved such protection. That said Order to a large extent prevents the further creation of fake websites.
This order comes as a major relief to AMUL who had been receiving several complaints from various people across India who complained of being deceived and duped by fake and rogue websites which illegally offered ‘AMUL” dealership, distributorships, jobs and caused them to deposit money ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 10 Lakhs. ‘AMUL’ on receiving such complaints filed complaints with the Cybercrime Cell and also issued notices to the domain registrars who are the sellers of the domain names.
Having not received any positive response and observing that even the websites which had been temporarily suspended due their efforts had again resurfaced, On hearing the said submissions advanced by Advocate Abhishek Singh on behalf of Amul, the Court took serious note on how miscreants purchase rogue websites containing names of well-known brands like ‘AMUL’, to dupe and defraud the public by offering dealership, distributorship, franchise, jobs etc .
The Court outrightly rejected the contention of GoDaddy that it is not aware as to whether there is any technology by virtue of which GoDaddy can ensure that the websites with name AMUL therein will not be made available for sale.
The Court has further directed the State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bandhan Bank, IndusInd Bank and Dena Bank who are the banks of the sixteen bank accounts (where the deposits were made) to furnish all details of the account holders, their addresses, contact details and bank statements.
That the outbreak of COVID-19 had further escalated the online fraud and during the last few months there had been a rampant rise in cases of online fraud. The order of the Court brings respite to AMUL as well as public at large.
Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)
