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7. The grievance of the Plaintiffs in the present case is that upon coming across a magazine released in December, 2000 titled "IT-Information Technology", the Plaintiffs learnt that the Defendants had registered the domain name 'www.sholay.com'. The magazine was accompanied by a free compact disk ("CD") containing the advertisement of the website. In the said article published in the magazine, the representation made was that the biggest Bollywood blockbuster has hit the internet. The article claimed 'SHOLAY.com' is a comprehensive site that offers you much more than its Bollywood alias did. In the said advertisement of the website, the This is a digitally signed Judgement.

iv) Applying to register the name SHOLAY as a trademark in India and the United States of America."

13. Apart from the above, the Defendants were also using a similar logo, colour scheme, and device and offering Ganpati silver coins, sweets and savouries from Indian Mithai shops, DVDs of the movie 'SHOLAY' on their website. The word 'SHOLAY' was also being used as a metatag by the Defendants on their web pages.

14. The use of the mark 'SHOLAY' on the internet caused actual confusion which has been narrated in the Plaint. A search of the word 'SHOLAY' returned the Defendants' website in the list of results on various search engines, causing actual instances of confusion. The said instances have been summarised in paragraph 41 of the Plaint as under:

15. According to the Plaintiffs, such use constitutes infringement, passing off, dilution and tarnishment of the well-known mark 'SHOLAY'. The Plaintiffs, thus, filed the present suit seeking permanent injunction restraining the infringement of their registered trademark 'SHOLAY' by the Defendants, passing off, damages, rendition of accounts, delivery up, etc. The reliefs sought by the Defendants are extracted below:

"(i) An order for permanent injunction restraining the Defendants, their directors, partners or proprietors as the case may be, their principal officers, servants and agents from operating any business, making, selling, offering for sale, advertising, or in any other manner dealing in any goods or services, under the name SHOLAY or any other name which is identical with or deceptively similar to the Plaintiffs trademark SHOLAY as an essential or dominant feature thereof, whether in the physical world or on the Internet and from doing any other thing as is likely to lead to This is a digitally signed Judgement.

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/001994 Finding: Insofar as internet usage is concerned, the said platform is now being accessed by billions of users across the world who may range from very educated to even illiterate people. In this day and age, the internet as a medium has become a platform for dissemination, communication and empowerment to the common man. Thus, in the opinion of this Court, the contention that the internet is only being used by educated persons is unacceptable. It would be easy for any person, not just educated individuals, to establish a connection between the Plaintiffs' film and the Defendants' website. The use of identical logos, marks and names originating from the movie 'SHOLAY' further confound the issue. Moreover, the chances of confusion which have been narrated in the Plaint and extracted hereinabove, leave no doubt in the mind of the Court that there is every likelihood of confusion.