GrabOn – a Hyderabad based coupons and daily deals startup had filed a trademark infringement case in the High Court of Delhi against GrabOnRent – a Bangalore based on-demand product rental marketplace.GrabOn was founded in September 2013 by Ashok Reddy and offers coupons and deals. GrabOnRent was founded in September 2015 by Manish S. Sugandhi, Shubham Jain and Aditya Sharma that helps...
GrabOn – a Hyderabad based coupons and daily deals startup had filed a trademark infringement case in the High Court of Delhi against GrabOnRent – a Bangalore based on-demand product rental marketplace.
GrabOn was founded in September 2013 by Ashok Reddy and offers coupons and deals. GrabOnRent was founded in September 2015 by Manish S. Sugandhi, Shubham Jain and Aditya Sharma that helps users in renting products online across categories.
GrabOn filed a lawsuit against GrabOnRent in the Delhi High Court, alleging misusing the former’s goodwill and causing confusion due to the deceptively similar brand names. It further claimed that new users are often confused between the names “GrabOn” and “GrabOnRent”, resulting in the wrong attribution in customer reviews, feedback and queries.
GrabOn further claimed that it has been bearing the brunt of negative customer reviews and complaints which were actually intended for GrabOnRent but diverted to GrabOn due to confusing brand names.
GrabOn further accused GrabOnRent of using their brand’s keywords on Google AdWords with nefarious intent of benefiting from better ranks and brand positioning. GrabOn claimed that it had to pay the price for such act as it has spent years of effort and invested hefty amount of money in building the reputation and recognition of the brand name.
GrabOnRent entered into a settlement with GrabOn and agreed that it shall refrain itself and its vendors, distributors, sellers etc. to sell, advertise or deal in goods or services under the mark “GrabOnRent”, “GrabOn” or similar trademark and domain name within the agreed timeframe. The settlement arrived before the Delhi High Court Mediation and Conciliation Centre, has been decreed by the Delhi High Court in favor of GrabOn.
The decree has further instructed GrabOnRent to place a disclaimer on each and every page of their website and Mobile App mentioning that they have no relation with GrabOn. The decree further demands that GrabOnRent has to destroy all the article/goods including visiting cards, tags, labels, etc., bearing the mark “GrabOnRent” or any other mark deceptively similar to “GrabOn” by 31st July 2020. GrabOnRent has also paid damages to GrabOn.