Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: July 13, 2022 at 19:15 IST
The owner of a confectionery by the name of “Facebake” has been permanently restrained by the Delhi High Court from using any mark that is deceptively similar to that of social media company Meta Platforms, Inc.’s “Facebook” mark.
In response to a complaint filed by Meta, Justice Navin Chawla stated that “Facebook” is a well-known trademark in the country and that the defendant, Noufel Malol, owner of Facebake, showed a mala fide intention to gain an unfair advantage by his overall visual representation.
The defendant changed the mark to “Facecake” after an interim injunction was issued prohibiting the use of “Facebake,” and the defendant decided not to defend the lawsuit. The judge noted that the use of a mark similar to “Facebook” can cause an unwary consumer to at least be interested in taking note of the defendant as having some kind of connection with the plaintiff.
The court permanently restrained the defendant from using the Facebake’ marks, the domain name and email address including the word “Facebake,” the mark Facecake, Facebook’s visual representation, and any other suspiciously similar mark about its products and services.
Additionally, the defendant was ordered to pay the plaintiff Rs 50,000 in damages by the court.
The plaintiff told the court that it had been aggrieved by the defendant’s use of the mark Facebake, which mimicked Facebook’s visual presentation by using the same colour scheme, typography, commercial impression, and overall look and feel.
According to the plaintiff, the defendant was intentionally misusing the significant goodwill of the Facebook marks and violating both statutory and common law rights.