The Delhi High Court has restrained a political satirist from using an identical India TV logo and the phrase “Baap Ki Adalat” in social media posts after the channel’s editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma filed a lawsuit for violation of “trademark and personality rights”, the Indian Express reported.

The May 30 order by a single-judge bench of Justice Anish Dayal barred Ravindra Kumar Choudhary from using pictures, video, and the name of Sharma as a “trademark, logo, trading style, domain name, social media posts, audio video content”. It also ordered X, YouTube, and Facebook to remove the disputed content, including social media posts and links.

The order said Choudhary’s social media posts carried a logo saying “Jhandiya TV”, resembling the news channel’s official logo, and also used “Baap ki Adalat”, mimicking the name of the TV show Aap ki Adalat anchored by Sharma.     

Sharma’s petition said that Choudhary, a “self-proclaimed political satirist”, was creating and publishing content with “deceptively similar” logos.

The court said that Sharma had made out a “prima facie case” for granting an ex parte ad interim injunction till the next hearing on October 18. The court also issued summons to Choudhary. 

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