Policy Bazaar, an online aggregator of insurance plans acts as a marketplace for various insurance policies. The company had filed a case at the Delhi High Court against Acko General Insurance (Acko) which also an insurance provider, alleging a trademark infringement of the mark 'Policy Bazaar'.
On May 16, the Court passed an ex-parte order restraining Acko from infringing the mark 'Policy Bazaar' in any manner, form or combination. Acko however submitted to the Court stating that, Policy Bazaar had misrepresented and concealed facts to obtain such an ex parte ad interim injunction. Acko, further stated that, Policy Bazaar was itself using the mark 'Acko' as a meta tag on its website which was resulting in Policy Bazaar site popping up as a sponsored link whenever an individual would type 'Acko' on any search engine. The Court on examining these submissions it was ascertained that Policy Bazaar, was in fact using the mark 'Acko'. Policy Bazaar contended stating that they had stopped using 'Acko' since April 23, 2019.
The Court in its order, reasoned that, "PolicyBazaar owed a duty to the court and concealment of facts amounted to making an attempt to pollute the pure stream of justice, the court has repeatedly instructed that a party who didn't disclose all material facts won't have a right to be heard". The Court considered this a deliberate act of concealing of facts and fined Policy Bazaar an amount of Rs. 10 Lakhs for the act. In addition to the fine, Policy Bazaar has also been ordered to submit an undertaking and an unconditional apology to the Court.
Compiled by: Adv. Sachi Kapoor | Concept & Edited by: Dr. Mohan Dewan
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
