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Why has MakeMyTrip charged EaseMyTrip for trademark violation?
It can’t be denied that the business has grown complex than ever, in these days of globalization. As the Business expands, the competition also gets tougher day by day. The new entrants in the market might indirectly tend to exploit the well-established brands in order to boost their presence among customers.
Here trademark registration acts as a worthwhile tool for business as a legal shield to protect its well-known brand name from being misused.
These days, we come across numerous cases of trademark violation by prominent businesses. The case of PayPal v/s Paytm trademark controversy was in limelight a few years back. PayPal had objected about the use of the logo by Paytm which seems identical to PayPal’s brand logo.
Recently, the prominent online travel package company MakeMyTrip has filed a suit against another well-known travel company EaseMyTrip over trademark infringement in Delhi high court.
Before going into the depth of this case, we must know the role of the 2 companies in the travel industry.
#1. Why is MakeMyTrip so famous in the travel industry?
Undeniably, the travel & tourism industry has ample scope in today’s era. During the period from January to October 2018, the Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism rose 8.3% to ₹1621.96 billion.
- In this digitized age, the travel industry has attained a tremendous pace. This is because every other travel package company today operates online.
- These days, people generally prefer to search online for travel packages of various tourist destinations. Undoubtedly, people in India mainly prefer to go with MakeMyTrip for affordable travel packages.
#2. How has MakeMyTrip become a big market player?
MakeMyTrip is a well-known travel booking company that has emerged as a leading online travel portal in recent years.
- MakeMyTrip has been recently stock-listed under NASDAQ, USA Stock Exchange.
- Today, MakeMyTrip is having a dominant share of India’s online travel market, which goes beyond 47%, according to the Economic Times.
Thus, we can see that MakeMyTrip (MMT) is leading the travel industry in India as the most preferred online travel portal.
#3. What objection MakeMyTrip has raised against EaseMyTrip?
MakeMyTrip has filed a complaint against EaseMyTrip, in which it has accused EaseMyTrip of misusing keyword “MakeMyTrip” on Google search to divert the search traffic to easmytrip.com online portal.
- In other words, Easemytrip avail Google PPC paid Ad services on ‘makemytrip’ keyword which lifted easymytrip.com at the top of the google search.
- More surprisingly, MMT has also complained against Google in this case. This implies that now the leading search engine Google would also have to appear in court to give justification on the matter.
- This can be termed as malpractice for diverting search traffic on the web. Due to this, MakeMyTrip had spent much more on its Google AdWords against its competitors.
- According to the experts, the online bid on travel keywords raises the cost per click (CPC) on Google by up to 3-4 times.
- Recently, the MakeMyTrip officials had raised this issue at the meeting with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade or DPIIT.
- Before filing suit, MakeMyTrip has sent a “cease and desist” notice to EaseMyTrip in September 2018. However, EaseMyTrip didn’t respond to it and is still using google ad services on “makemytrip” keyword.
- With no other option left, MakeMyTrip filed suit against EaseMyTrip. The case is however scheduled for hearing at the Delhi High Court for 8th May 2019.
#4. Why is trademark registration so important?
From the above case, we can observe how tough is the competition in today’s globalized age.
- As soon as a company emerges as a prominent market player, it might encounter many other competitors in the industry, who can misuse its trade name.
- Hence, a trademark registration is very necessary for protecting your trade name. If you already have a trademark registration, none of your competitors can easily take undue benefit of your brand name.
- If they do so, you can take suitable legal action against them, just like MakeMyTrip.
#5. How to obtain trademark registration?
You can easily apply a trademark for your brand logo with the assistance of our professional team. They can guide you efficiently in getting a unique trademark registration.
Also watch the video to know in detail:
If you need any further guidance as regards online Trademark Registration, feel free to contact us at 8881-069-069.
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