'Yatra' is generic, cannot be monopolised: Delhi HC in Yatra Online vs BookMyYatra trademark suit
Yatra Online, which has operated under its Yatra and Yatra.com marks since 2006 and claims over 15 million customers and an FY24 turnover of Rs 5,600 crore, argued that the rival brand was deceptively similar and designed to trade off its goodwill.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Delhi High Court has dismissed an injunction application filed by Yatra Online Limited against Mach Conferences and Events Limited, which sought to block the use of the marks BookMyYatra and and BookMyYatra.com.
According to a Bar and Bench report, Justice Tejas Karia, while pronouncing the order, observed that "Yatra", synonymous with travel in Hindi, is a generic and descriptive term in the travel industry and therefore cannot be monopolised by any single entity.
"Generic or commonly descriptive words can never become trademarks on their own as they never acquire distinctiveness or a secondary meaning. These words do not indicate origin or source. It is settled law that words used in everyday language cannot be allowed to be monopolised," the Court noted.
Yatra Online, which has operated under its Yatra and Yatra.com marks since 2006 and claims over 15 million customers and an FY24 turnover of Rs 5,600 crore, argued that the rival brand was deceptively similar and designed to trade off its goodwill.
Mach Conferences countered that "Yatra" has long been used by hundreds of travel operators across India, and Yatra Online's own trademark registrations carried disclaimers denying exclusivity over the word.
The defendant stressed that the prefix "BookMy" gave the rival mark a distinct identity, already common in the online services space.
The Court upheld this view, pointing out that Yatra Online's registrations for "Yatra with device" and "Yatra Freight" were granted only with clear disclaimers. "No exclusive right for the word Yatra." Justice KAria held that the plaintiff could not expand its rights beyond those limits, the report added.
Rejecting Yatra's argument of secondary meaning, the Court clarified that such recognition requires the primary descriptive sense of a word to be lost through long, uninterrupted exclusive use - something contradicted by documentary evidence showing widespread use of "Yatra" across the sector.
On the marks BookMyYatra and BookMyYatra.com, the Court found them distinguishable due to the "BookMy" prefix and overall impressions. It also ruled that the suffix '.com' is a generic domain extension that cannot independently confer trademark rights.
With no prima facie case established, the Court dismissed Yatra Online's plea and vacated its December 2024 interim order, which had temporarily restrained Mach Conferences from using the impugned marks, the report added.
