Delhi High Court Today (May 28) allowed Bengaluru law firm to use ‘FoxMandal’ trademark again. Both sides to present full responses in commercial court by June 5.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today allowed the Bengaluru-based law firm Fox Mandal & Associates to use the trademark ‘FoxMandal’ again, cancelling the earlier court order that had stopped them from doing so.
This decision came after both sides in the dispute agreed to it. The matter was heard by a bench of Justices Hari Shankar and Ajay Digpaul, who asked both parties to file their replies in the commercial court by June 5. The commercial court will hear the full case on June 6.
Earlier this month, a commercial court in New Delhi had stopped Shuvabrata Mandal and Shouryabrata Mandal — along with their law firm Fox Mandal & Associates — from using the name “FoxMandal” and the domain name www.foxmandal.in.
This order came after Somabrata Mandal and his firm Fox Mandal & Co claimed that they were the original owners of the “FOXMANDAL” trademark. They said it has been registered since 2002, and the firm was first founded by their late father Dinabandhu Mandal in 1984.
According to Somabrata, he became the Managing Partner of the original firm in 1989 and even designed the firm’s logo himself.
The people accused in this case, Shuvabrata and Shouryabrata, are actually the brothers of Somabrata. They have been giving legal services using the name Fox Mandal & Associates from Bengaluru since 1996 and from Delhi since 2022.
Somabrata and his firm claimed that their brothers registered the domain www.foxmandal.in in 2010 without telling them. They also said that even though the domain was bought in 2010, it was only used from 2018.
They also told the court that when they objected in 2020 to the defendants’ applications to register several “FoxMandal” trademarks, the defendants then started using “FoxMandal” directly on their website, instead of the full name “Fox Mandal & Associates”.
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The Patiala House Court had earlier noted that Somabrata’s firm had shown strong proof of owning the “FOXMANDAL” trademark since 2002.
The court said the trademark used by the other side was “phonetically identical and/or deceptively similar”, which could confuse clients.
The court also said there was a prima facie case (first view of a valid case) of trademark infringement and passing off. It added that the balance of convenience was in Somabrata’s favour.
So, the commercial court had temporarily stopped the defendants from using the “FoxMandal” name, logo, or domain www.foxmandal.in or anything that looked like it. This ex parte order (passed without hearing the other side) was later challenged in the Delhi High Court.
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In the High Court, the following lawyers represented the parties:
- For Somabrata Mandal: Senior Advocates Amarjit Singh Chandhiok and Pramod Kumar Dubey, along with Advocate Mamta Tiwari.
- For Shuvabrata and Shouryabrata Mandal (Fox Mandal & Associates): Senior Advocates Sandeep Sethi and Jayant Mehta.
The case is now set for further arguments on June 6, with both sides required to submit their full responses by June 5.
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