Asus Restrained By Delhi High Court From Selling, Advertising Mobile Phones Or Accessories Under ‘Zen’ Trademark

Mobile phone maker Asus Technology Pvt Ltd has been restrained by the Delhi High Court from selling and advertising mobile phones, accessories, or any other related products under trademarks like ZEN, ZENFONE or any other similar trademarks.

An interim order to this effect was passed, while the matter will be heard next on July 10.

Earlier, Telecare Network had claimed that it had registered ZEN and ZENMOBILE under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, which it had used to sell feature phones, smart phones, tablets and accessories since 2008.

Telecare had contended that Asus had adopted an identical trademark called ZENFONE to sell its mobile phones. Since the price range of the both the brands were also similar, Telecare contended that Asus Technology’s ZENFONE trademarked products would confuse customers.

Telecare argued that Asus had adopted ZEN as its trademark, with “malafide intent” in order to take advantage of Telecare’s goodwill and reputation in the Indian market.

Asus defended itself that its top management consisted of believers of the ancient Zen philosophy and that the mark ZENFONE was a reflection of the same, besides also being a common trade name, which is generic. It stated that various third-party manufacturers had got the mark ZEN registered, based on a search report of the Trade Marks Registry website.

There was no scope of confusion or deception in the minds of consumers since the trademark ZENFONE was associated Asus, the company stated. It also cited Section 17(2) of the Act to argue that Telecare had no right to claim any exclusivity or monopoly over a part of a label or device.

However, the court stated that the word ‘Zen’ could not be said to be a generic mark with regard to mobile phones.

Merely filing a search report from the trademark office does not prove that the mark mentioned in the search report was actually being used by third parties, the court stated.

The court stated that Telecare had proved that it had used similar trademarks since 2008 as compared to Asus, which began using a similar sounding trademark called ZENFONE only in 2014.

Hence, the court restrained Asus from directly or indirectly selling, offering or advertising mobile phones or mobile accessories or any other related products under the trademarks ZEN and ZENFONE, or any other similar sounding trademarks.