The Delhi High Court has granted a Dynamic+ interim injunction against the defendants in respect of seven infringing domain names and issued extensive directions to Domain Name Registrars (DNRs), Registry Operators, Government authorities and Banks to curb trademark abuse and online financial frauds facilitated through deceptive domain names.

Justice Prathiba M. Singh observed that fraudsters routinely misuse well-known trademarks to create fake websites offering spurious distributorships and services, thereby cheating the public and evading enforcement through masked registrant details and rapidly changing domain names. The Court held that such conduct affects not only trademark owners but also consumers and public interest at large.

The Court while expressly recording that a Dynamic+ interim injunction is granted against all Defendants, including Registrants and DNRs, in respect of the seven impugned domain names, issued structured and comprehensive enforcement framework.

(A) Directions to Domain Name Registrars (DNRs) and Registry Operators

(i) DNRs and Registry Operators shall not resort to masking of registrant, administrative contact or technical contact details by default as an “opt-out” system. Privacy protection shall be offered only as an opt-in, value-added service upon payment of additional charges, and shall not form part of the default domain registration package.

(ii) Whenever any entity or individual having legitimate interest, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), or Courts request disclosure of data relating to any infringing or unlawful domain name, the concerned DNR shall disclose the following information within 72 hours, in terms of the Intermediaries Guidelines, 2021:
  (a) Name of the Registrant;
  (b) Administrative contact;
  (c) Technical contact;
  (d) Addresses of the above persons/entities;
  (e) Mobile numbers;
  (f) Email addresses;
  (g) Payment-related information including credit/debit card details, UPI numbers, bank account details and payment platform identities;
  (h) Details of value-added services such as website hosting, brokerage or other services.

(iii) Domain names restrained by injunctions or found to be used for unlawful purposes shall remain permanently blocked and shall not be reintroduced into any pool for re-registration. Registry Operators shall ensure uniform compliance by all DNRs.

(iv) In cases involving well-known trademarks or invented, arbitrary or fanciful marks with established goodwill in India, court directions restraining infringing domain names shall extend to all extensions, mirror domains, redirects and alphanumeric variations, and no alternate domain names shall be made available.

(v) Upon communication of an injunction order, DNRs shall ensure that no alternative domain name is promoted or suggested. Any such promotion shall disentitle the DNR from safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

(vi) In respect of descriptive and generic trademarks, restraining or injunction orders shall be limited to the specific infringing domain name.

(vii) Extension of injunctions to other domain names in such cases shall require intervention of the Joint Registrar under Order I Rule 10 CPC, subject to challenge before the Single Judge.

(viii) Upon court orders, infringing domain names shall be transferred to the plaintiff/trademark owner upon payment of usual charges.

(ix) Search engines and DNRs shall not provide promotional, marketing or optimisation services to infringing or unlawful domain names.

(x) All DNRs offering services in India shall appoint Grievance Officers within one month, failing which they shall be treated as non-compliant.

(xi) Service of court orders by email to the Grievance Officer shall be deemed sufficient. Insistence on MLAT or other service modes shall render the DNR non-compliant.

(xii) In cases of repeated non-compliance adversely affecting public interest, courts may direct blocking of access to such entities under Section 69A of the IT Act.

(xiii) Registry Operators with ICANN agreements shall implement Trademark Clearing House (TMCH) services and make them available to trademark owners.

(xiv) DNRs shall verify registrant details at registration and periodically thereafter in accordance with CERT-In Circular dated 28 April 2022 and NIXI Accreditation norms.

(xv) DNRs registering domain names administered by NIXI shall furnish registration data to NIXI within one month and update the same monthly.

(B) Directions to the Government

(xvi) MeitY, MHA and other authorities shall conduct stakeholder consultations with DNRs and Registry Operators to explore a uniform registration framework similar to NIXI.

(xvii) The Government shall consider nomination of a nodal agency such as NIXI as a central data repository for registrant details or mandate data localisation in India, subject to compliance with the DPDP Act.

(xviii) Services of non-compliant DNRs or Registry Operators may be blocked under Section 69A of the IT Act.

(xix) MeitY and NIXI shall coordinate with ICANN to enable Indian brand owners to access TMCH facilities on reasonable terms.

(xx) CGPDTM may publish a list of well-known trademarks along with authentic website details to enable public verification.

(C) Directions qua Grant of ‘Dynamic +’ Injunction

(xxi) Dynamic+ injunctions may apply where:
  (a) the trademark appears identically in the domain name;
  (b) the trademark appears with confusing prefixes or suffixes;
  (c) the trademark appears as an alphanumeric variation.

(xxii) Where a legitimate registrant opposes suspension, the IP owner may be required to obtain appropriate court orders.

(D) Directions to Banks

(xxiii) All banks shall implement the Beneficiary Bank Account Name Lookup facility in accordance with the RBI circular dated 30 December 2024 for all online and UPI payments.

(xxiv) Banks shall strictly comply with SOPs issued by the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau dated 31 May 2024 while responding to requests from law enforcement agencies.

Ms. Geetanjali Viswanathan, Mr. Yash Raj, Ms. Kruttika Vijay & Ms. Aishwarya Kane, Mr. Yash Raj, Advs. for D-5

Mr. Darpan Wadhwa Sr. Adv. with Mr. Alipak Banerjee, Ms. Shweta Sahu, Mr. Parva Khare, Mr. Brijesh Ujjainwal, Mr. Pradyumn Sharma, Ms. Shivani Chaudhary & Mohd. Kamran, Advs.

Mr. K.G. Gopalakrishnan, Mr. Kunwar Raj Singh and Ms. Nisha Mohandas, Advs for D-7.

Mr. Apoorv Kurup & Ms. Kirti Dadheech, Advs. for R-3.

Mr. Akshay Goel, Mr. Shivam Narang & Mr. Lalit Kashyap, Advocates.