In a recent case of Sholay Media Entertainment & Anr. vs. Yogesh Patel and Ors.[1], the Delhi High Court imposed damages of Rs. 25 lacs for trademark infringement. This case was filed against a domain name which used the word “Sholay” as sholay.com. creation of such a website represented a clear deceptive similarity to the legendary movie Sholay.

While passing the judgment, Pratibha M. Singh, J., stated the following:

“Certain films cross the boundaries of just being ordinary words and the title of the film ‘SHOLAY’ is one of them. Titles and films are capable of being recognised under trademark law and in India ‘SHOLAY’ would be a classic example of such a case.”

This case took an interesting turn when the defendants claimed that movies do not fall under Goods and Services and are hence, not entitled to any protection under the Trademarks Act. Negating this claim, the Court laid down that film titles fall under the purview of trademarks and when it comes to a movie like Sholay, it is way more significant because it is a brand in itself. Irrespective of the class of persons using that website, everybody clearly relates the word “Sholay” with the 1975 movie only.

There are main three essentials of trademark 1) it should be marked; 2)it should be capable of being represented graphically; and 3)it should be capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others.[2] Trademark give the product a special identity of its own which makes it stand different from other similar products along with that it also helps the consumer to identify it origin and relate it to its quality so therefore trademark in a way guarantees the unchanged quality of the product and help to build its brand image.

In Compaq v Dell[3], ‘Dell’ computers published an advertisement claiming that their home computers functioned similarly to ‘Compaq’ computers, but were cheaper. ‘Their claims about function were untrue in various important details. The court found it to be an infringement and granted interlocutory relief in respect of injurious falsehood.’[4]

Hence, it has been made clear by this case that movie names as famous and remarkable as Sholay can also be treated as trademarks and they are required to be protected against any infringement in any form as there is a great possibility of a deceptive similarity and confusion occurring among people with regards to the goods and services offered in the name of the movie.