Is Yatra a trademark? No monopoly on common words, Delhi HC rules – Brand Wagon News

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant Yatra Online Limited an injunction against Mach Conferences and Events Limited over the use of the marks BookMyYatra and BookMyYatra.com, ruling that the word “Yatra” is generic and cannot be monopolised for travel-related services.

Justice Tejas Karia, dismissing Yatra Online’s application, observed that terms commonly used in everyday language cannot be appropriated as trademarks. “Generic or descriptive words can never qualify as trademarks on their own, as they neither indicate origin nor acquire distinctiveness,” the court said, adding that allowing exclusivity over such expressions would amount to monopolisation.

‘Yatra’ lacks distinctiveness, says Court

Yatra Online, which launched operations in 2006 and claims over 15 million customers with an annual turnover exceeding Rs 5,600 crore in FY24, argued that BookMyYatra was deceptively similar and intended to ride on its goodwill. The company asserted that the mark “Yatra” had acquired a secondary meaning through continuous use.

Mach Conferences countered that “Yatra” is a common Hindi term for travel, used widely by numerous operators long before Yatra Online entered the market. It also pointed out that Yatra’s trademark registrations carried disclaimers denying exclusive rights over the word.

Agreeing with this view, the court held that Yatra Online had accepted explicit disclaimers at the time of registration, which clearly limited its rights. “Disclaimers exist so proprietors do not attempt to extend rights beyond legitimate bounds,” Justice Karia noted.

The court further rejected Yatra’s claim of secondary meaning, stating that for such meaning to develop, the original descriptive sense must fade away, something not evident here, given widespread third-party use of ‘Yatra’.

‘BookMy’ prefix, domain name offer no edge

The High Court also ruled that the marks BookMyYatra and BookMyYatra.com were visually and phonetically distinguishable due to the “BookMy” prefix and overall composition.

It cited previous rulings that even “BookMy” is considered descriptive in nature. The court dismissed Yatra’s argument that the “.com” suffix created distinctiveness, clarifying that top-level domains are generic and cannot confer exclusivity.

With no prima facie case established, the court vacated its earlier interim order from December 2024 that had restrained Mach Conferences from using the disputed marks.

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