Holding that the terms denoting particular regions in the country as well as the words ‘matrimony’ and ‘matrimonial’ were generic in nature, Madras High Court has rejected a plea from Matrimony.com to restrain several other matrimonial firms from using the terms in nine Indian languages, including Tamil, apart from English. Justice N Sathish Kumar rejected the plea while dismissing an application arising out of a civil suit from Matrimony.com last week.
The terms denoting particular regions in the country as well as the words ‘matrimony’ and ‘matrimonial’ were generic in nature. Therefore, the applicant is not entitled for an interim injunction, though it had registered trademarks such as tamilmatrimony.com and telugumatrimony.com, etc., the judge said. Admittedly, the words ‘Tamil’, ‘Kannada’, ‘Kerala’ and ‘Telugu’ are generic terms. Similarly, the word ‘matrimony’ is also a dictionary word and it is a competent word for looking for alliances for marriage.
Any competitor can enter the Internet with those keywords. The plaintiff itself, though holding a registered trademark, used them as key words and paid Google for ads. Such being the position, the mere registration of trademark of the generic words will not entitle plaintiff to get an order of injunction, the judge said.