Delhi High Court declines to lift ban on Ravi Mohan Studios’ use of ‘BRO CODE’ title

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to lift the interim injunction restraining actor Ravi Mohan’s production company, Ravi Mohan Studios Private Limited, from using the title ‘BRO CODE’ for its upcoming film.

A Division Bench of Justices Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla observed that granting a stay on the single-judge’s order at this stage would effectively amount to allowing the appeal. The Bench, while issuing notice on the studio’s appeal against the injunction, declined to suspend the earlier order and listed the matter for final hearing on 5 December.

The single-judge order, issued on 14 October, had barred the film studio from using the title following a trademark infringement suit filed by Indospirit Beverages Private Limited, the company behind the popular carbonated wine-in-a-pint drink also known as BRO CODE. The court had held that the studio’s use of an identical mark for a film title could cause confusion among consumers and dilute the goodwill associated with Indospirit’s beverage brand.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, the Division Bench questioned Indospirit on the statutory basis of the injunction, seeking clarity on which subsection of Section 29 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, applied in this case. The Bench noted that the single-judge order had not specifically invoked Section 29(4) or recorded findings on its key conditions, remarking that the order lacked a prima facie discussion of the relevant statutory provisions.

Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan, representing Indospirit, informed the court that Section 29(4)(b) of the Act was applicable, which requires establishing the mark’s reputation in India, the absence of due cause, and the likelihood of unfair advantage or harm to its distinctiveness. The Bench, however, declined to interfere with the injunction, observing that doing so would render the pending suit meaningless.

The court subsequently issued notice on the appeal. Krishnan was briefed by Advocates Ankur Sangal, Ankit Arvind, Shilpi Sinha, Priyanka Jaiswal, and Nishesh Gupta from Khaitan & Co, along with Advocates Aditya Ganju and Saumanyu Sethi from AG Chambers. Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak appeared for Ravi Mohan Studios.

Meanwhile, Indospirit has also filed a contempt petition against Ravi Mohan for alleged non-compliance with the October order. The High Court has issued notice in that matter, which remains pending adjudication.