Bennett Coleman & Co (Times Group) filed a contempt of court case [Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd v. ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd] against Republic TV and its Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami (defendants) on Wednesday, alleging violation of the Court’s earlier direction regarding the use of the tagline ‘Nation Wants To Know’ by Republic TV.
After Justice C. Hari Shankar noted that Republic TV’s usage of the catchphrase appeared to be within the boundaries set by the Court’s October 2020 order, Times Group withdrew the request today.
The contempt of court case was then closed by the lone judge.
On October 23, 2020, the High Court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Republic TV’s parent company, ARG Outlier Media, from utilising the News Hour brand.
While noting Times Group’s assertion that Goswami “is free to use the same as part of his speech/presentation of any news channel, etc.,” the Court had rejected to pass an interim order in regards to the tagline ‘Nation Wants To Know.
Furthermore, the Court had ordered Republic TV to keep records of its usage of the slogan as a trademark “concerning any of their goods/services” and to file them on an annual affidavit.
Times Group then applied for contempt of court under Order XXXIX Rule 2A of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), claiming that ARG had violated the order from October 2020 by continuing to use the slogan “Nation Wants To Know” as a trademark without keeping and filing the required records.
Times Group claimed that the defendants were trying to connect it with Arnab Goswami by utilising the slogan “Nation Wants to Know.”
Defence attorney and senior advocate Malvika Trivedi said that the 2020 order proved that the defendants could include the slogan in their public discourse and media coverage.
It was also argued that the court had already seen screenshots comparable to those relied on by the Times Group in their contempt application when they heard the injunction application.
As of now, the Court has confirmed that Republic TV may “use the tagline for speech or presentation of a news, etc.” per its order from October 2020.
It was also noted by the judge that the court has no jurisdiction to rule on whether or not the use of the slogan constitutes trademark infringement when considering an application under Order XXXIX Rule 2A.
The court said there was no prima facie charge of contempt since the defendants had complied with the injunction by using the phrase “in possible limits” in their advertising.
The contempt of court petition was subsequently withdrawn by Times Group.
Advocates Manish Kumar Mishra, Hemant Singh, Mamta Rani Jha, Pragya Jain, and Saumya Khandelwal represented the Times Group in court.
Malvika Trivedi, a senior lawyer, was joined by attorneys Rahul Tyagi and Diya Dutta in representing Republic TV.
