HC asks private firm, directors to respond to Sea Hawk's trademark-infringement plea

New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has sought the responses of a private firm and its directors on a plea moved by transportation-services company Sea Hawk Tour and Travels, alleging infringement of its trademark.

Justice Tejas Karia issued summonses to the defendant firm, Sea Hawk Travels Private Limited, and its directors Praveen Yadav and Narendra Singh on a suit filed by Sunil Kumar Yadav, the director and majority shareholder of Sea Hawk Tour and Travels Private Limited.

The court, in its July 22 order, asked the defendants to file their replies to the suit within a month and listed it for further hearing in September.

It also sought their responses to the plaintiff's plea seeking ad-interim injunction against the defendants.

The plea said while Praveen Yadav and Singh were originally inducted in Sea Hawk Tour and Travels, they abused their positions and conspired to create a competing business entity -- M/s Sea Hawk Travels Private Limited -- by using the same trade name and falsely claiming business continuity from the original company.

Senior advocate Ashish Mohan and lawyers Kushal Kumar and Akash Deep Gupta, representing the plaintiff, said the misrepresentations were not incidental but part of a systematic attempt to usurp the original company's market reputation and commercial identity.

"As a result, clients, vendors and the public at large are being misled into believing that defendant no. 4 (Sea Hawk Travels) is a continuation of the original 'Sea Hawk' business, causing direct confusion and diversion of contracts," the lawyers said.

The plea said the defendants' actions clearly deceive the general public and cause misrepresentation in the course of trade, causing damage to the goodwill and reputation of "Sea Hawk". PTI SKV RC