Arbitral Award on domain name “Harvard” – Important Judgment of the Delhi High Court

The respondent is the proprietor of well-known trademark “HARVARD” adopted in 1638 and other formative marks.   They were registered in India as per the details given in para 4 of the judgment.

The complainant made complaint dated 16.11.2022 with NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India) against use of said domain name by the appellant in bad faith.   NIXI appointed Arbitrator.  The appellant did not contest.   The Arbitral Award dated 6.4.2023 was passed in favour of the respondent.

The Arbitral Tribunal found that merely pre-fixing “Kashmir” to HARVARD” did not significantly distinguish the domain name from the complainant’s trademark or name.  It did not obviate the possibility of confusion. The activities of the appellant and the complainant were in educational services and the domain extension “edu.in” did have the propensity to cause confusion which was required to be prevented to safeguard a vulnerable section of the public namely; students.

It was also observed that it is common knowledge that online educational courses are widely subscribed to by a number of students and therefore, even the slightest possibility of confusion was required to be avoided.

The Arbitral Tribunal accepted that it must be presumed that the intention of the appellant to use the impugned domain name was for purpose of misrepresenting it as affiliated of the complainant and to trade upon its trademark “HARVARD”.

The learned Single Judge rejected section 34 petition of the appellant.

INDRP – .In Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and Rules of Procedure for arbitration dispute resolution.

Challenge to the impugned Award that INDRP jurisdiction is confined only to the disputes of “.IN” and “.Bharat” domain names.  The complainant was not registered with NIXI and the complaint was not maintainable.  The appellant was Registrant with INDRP and therefore, the complaint against it was maintainable.  The contention that the complainant must necessarily be a Registrant is misconceived.

Judgment dated 22.4.2024 of the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court in FAO (OS) (COMM) 75 of 2024 of Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute Vs. President and Fellows of Harvard College