PhonePe loses trademark infringement case against BharatPe’s
- ByStartupStory | April 7, 2023
PhonePe’s trademark infringement plea against BharatPe’s PostPe has been dismissed by the Bombay High Court. PhonePe had sought an interim injunction to stop PostPe’s buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service from using the brand name, which PhonePe argued was too similar to its own trademarks. However, Justice Manish Pitale dismissed PhonePe’s application, dealing a blow to the digital payments company.
The Bombay High Court has rejected PhonePe’s request for an interim injunction to restrain BharatPe’s PostPe from using the brand name, citing trademark infringement. The court found that PhonePe failed to establish a strong enough case for the grant of interim relief. According to the court, PhonePe’s claim that customers could be confused between the services of the two companies was not convincing. The court dismissed the application, stating that the plaintiff did not show a prima facie case in relation to either infringement or passing off with respect to the ‘PhonePe’ trademark.
The Bombay High Court has dismissed PhonePe’s trademark infringement plea against BharatPe’s PostPe, stating that the plaintiff did not present a strong prima facie case for the grant of interim relief. The court also noted that both words have distinct meanings with no possibility of confusion, rejecting PhonePe’s argument of phonetic and structural similarity between the two trademarks. The HC opined that the term “Pe” was widely used in the domain, signifying “Pay”, which both parties were involved in.
BharatPe countered PhonePe’s argument by saying that the term ‘PostPe’ was derived from the idea of deferred payment, indicating that customers could purchase now and pay later. The fintech company further stated that it only recruited clients with suitable credit histories and that it was separate from PhonePe’s basic payment service through UPI and other modes. This latest ruling is another twist in the ongoing feud between BharatPe and PhonePe regarding the use of the ‘Pe’ suffix.
The ongoing dispute between PhonePe and BharatPe over trademark infringement has been long-standing. PhonePe had sent a cease and desist notice to BharatPe in 2018, directing it to stop using the brand name with ‘Pe’ written in Devanagari script. BharatPe later changed its brand name format to ‘BharatPe’ only. In 2019, PhonePe filed an injunction order plea against BharatPe over the use of the suffix ‘Pe,’ claiming that it had acquired distinctiveness. In 2021, PhonePe filed a commercial intellectual property infringement suit against BharatPe for registering the trademark ‘PostPe’ and its other variations.
BharatPe can breathe a sigh of relief after a court ruled in their favor regarding their BNPL product, which they heavily promoted and marketed. It’s worth noting that the former MD, Ashneer Grover, launched a fantasy gaming platform called CricPe, which also uses the suffix “Pe.” Grover mentioned in an interview that he had fought cases to prevent a monopoly on the term “Pe.” However, trademark infringement cases are on the rise, involving both tech startups and big tech companies. Recently, the Delhi High Court ordered Google Enterprises to pay INR 10 lakh to Google LLC for trademark infringement. Blinkit, a Zomato-owned quick commerce platform, was also involved in a trademark infringement case with a Bengaluru-based IT company called Blinkhit. Similarly, Kuku FM settled a legal dispute with competitor Pocket FM over the exclusive license for a few books’ audio summaries.
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