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Google moves Delhi HC in appeal in case over use of trademark for AdWords
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Tech giant Google on Friday (July 10, 2026) moved the Delhi High Court against an order holding it guilty of trademark infringement. | A Bench of Justices V. Kameswar Rao and Manmeet P.S. Arora issued notice to Hindware on Google's appeal against a single Judge's May 22 decision, which also directed the platform to pay ₹30 lakh as damages, and listed the matter for hearing on July 24.Refusing to interfere with the judgement at this stage, the bench said, "We will have it on July 24 for final disposal." Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi appeared for the appellant and sought interim stay of the direction to pay damages.He argued that the single Judge's judgement was not in line with the earlier decisions and globally acceptable practices in the field.On May 22, the single Judge had directed Google to pay ₹30 lakh as damages to Hindware for using its trademark as keywords for its AdWords Programme.While dealing with two lawsuits by Hindware Ltd, the single Judge had held that the use of trademarks as keywords amounted to unfair advantage under the Trademarks Act and restrained Google LLC and Google India from using 'Hindware' or 'Hindware Sanitaryware', 'Hindware Sanitar' or 'Hindware Sanitaryware India' as part of advertising keywords for its platform.The single-Judge Bench had ruled that by enabling direct competitors to intercept users when they expressed an interest in the plaintiff's mark, Google indulged in an "unfair practice" and also sought to exploit the distinctive character or repute of the plaintiff's well-known trademark to benefit its own advertising business.It said no prior consent or approval was admittedly sought by Google from the plaintiff for offering, suggesting and selling its registered trademark to other entities pursuant to the AdWords programme.Google's act of auctioning and selling the use of the plaintiff's trademark as a keyword to direct competitors was not exempted under Section 79(1) of the IT Act, which grants intermediaries a safe harbour from legal liability, it had further held. Published - July 10, 2026 04:53 pm IST
Image for the purpose of representation only. | V. Viswanathan and Alok Aradhe incoherently for a few minutes before hurling a bundle of papers towards the Bench on Friday (July 10, 2026). The papers flew into the air inside the courtroom.Security personnel immediately apprehended the man and led him away as the two judges and a stunned courtroom looked on.The man addressed the Bench as “Mr. Judicial Servant” while “ordering” the judges to take action against a senior police officer based in Lucknow.Justice Viswanathan initially intervened to ask the man whether he was actually “ordering” the Bench. In response, the man gave a garbled reply about being “sovereign” before abruptly saying, “That is all from my side. Everything is on record.” He then took loose papers from a file and threw them towards the Bench. Security personnel intervened within moments.The incident is reminiscent of a similar one in October last year when a lawyer flung an object at a Bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India, Justice B.R. Gavai. The lawyer had shouted slogans of “Sanatan Dharma” as he was escorted out by security personnel.Justice Gavai had brushed aside the incident and declined to initiate contempt proceedings against the man.In 2009, a woman threw a slipper at Justice Arijit Pasayat (now retired) during the hearing of a contempt case. The slipper missed the judge, who ducked in time. The woman was taken into custody.A more serious incident occurred in March 1968 in the courtroom of the Chief Justice of India, when a knife-wielding man attacked the judges on the Bench.The then Chief Justice of India, Justice M. Hidayatullah, who was heading the Bench, wrestled the attacker to the ground and held him until security personnel climbed onto the judges’ dais to apprehend him. By then, the assailant had attacked Justice A.N. Grover, who fell after sustaining a blow to the back of his head. Published - July 10, 2026 03:20 pm IST
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