Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV can use the tagline ‘Nation Wants to Know’ but cannot use the trademark ‘NEWS HOUR’ or any other mark that resembles the same, the Delhi High Court said on Friday, 23 October, reported Bar & Bench.
A single judge bench of Justice Jayant Nath was hearing a petition filed by Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. (BCCL), the parent company of Times Group which owns English television news channel Times Now.
BCCL had moved the high court to prevent Goswami’s ARG Outlier Media – which owns Republic TV – from using the trademarks like ‘News Hour’ and ‘Nation Wants to Know’ or any such similar combination.
In 2006, Times Now had launched its most prominent debate shot titled News Hour, when Goswami was its Editor-In-Chief and the show’s trademark was registered in 2014.
However, following his exit from the Times Group in 2016, Goswami staked claim to the two taglines and forced the Times Group or BCCL to apply for the registration of the tag line ‘The Nation Wants to Know’ in December 2016.
While Times Group owns the News Hour trademark, it contends that the tagline was the product of editorial and marketing initiatives and has “acquired goodwill and distinctiveness indicative of the programme originating from the plaintiff in the eyes of the viewers of the channel.”
Republic TV, on the other hand, says that viewers are “informed and literate” enough to distinguish between the two channels, while adding that marks like NEWS HOUR and Nation Wants to Know are generic in nature and cannot be exclusive in nature.
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