“Cannot Claim Exclusivity On ‘Pe’ Suffix”: Delhi High Court Refuses To Grant Interim Relief To PhonePe In Its Plea Against BharatPe

The Delhi High Court refused to grant interim injunction to PhonePe in its plea seeking permanent injunction against BharatPe for allegedly using similar and identical suffix “Pe” in its application. While dismissing the said application, a single judge bench comprising of Justice C Hari Shankar prima facie observed that PhonePe cannot claim exclusivity solely over the “Pe” suffix, as no infringement can be claimed on the basis of part of a registered trademark. The observation came in a plea filed by PhonePe seeking permanent injunction against BharatPe by alleging that the mark “Pe” used by the latter infringes its registered trademark and also amounts to passing off of services. It was also alleged that the use of “Pe” or any other deceptive variant of “PhonePe” being similar or identical to its trademark with regards to online payment services amounts to trademark infringement. Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta appeared on behalf of PhonePe Private Limited whereas Senior Advocate Gaurav Pachnanda appeared for the defendants.