HC: Vivanta Reality and Vivanta Stays infringe Taj's Vivanta Trademark, Read Stay Order

Recently, in a decisive move protecting the intellectual property rights of the Tata Group’s hospitality arm, the Delhi High Court has granted an ad-interim injunction restraining the use of the mark ‘Vivanta Stays’ and ‘Vivanta Realty’, terms found deceptively similar to the ‘VIVANTA’ trademark owned by The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), operator of the renowned Vivanta hotels.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, held that the adoption of an identical mark by the defendants for running their business of luxury vacation rentals and realty operations “ex-facie infringes the Plaintiff’s well-known trademark ‘VIVANTA’.”

The Court noted that IHCL, incorporated in 1902 and part of the Tata Group, is a pioneer in the hospitality sector, managing brands such as Taj, SeleQtions, Vivanta, and Ginger. The ‘VIVANTA’ mark, coined and adopted in 2008, was declared a well-known trademark by the Delhi High Court in 2022, and is registered across several classes.

 According to the plaint, the defendants had been using the mark ‘Vivanta Stays’ to offer vacation villas across destinations including Goa, Alibaug, Nashik, and Lonavala. Despite a cease-and-desist notice from IHCL, they continued to operate through new domains and social media accounts. The plaintiff also placed on record complaints from consumers who were allegedly deceived by the defendant’s misrepresentation.

Observing the deliberate misuse of a well-established brand, Justice Arora stated that “it would be in the interest of the unwary consumers that the said Defendant is injuncted from using the Plaintiff’s trademark to lure them.” The Court found that the defendant’s use of the mark was not only unauthorised but “deliberate and mischievous”, capable of misleading the public into believing an association with IHCL’s hotels.

 
Noting that Defendant had already undertaken to discontinue the use of ‘Vivanta Realty’, the Court proceeded to restrain both Defendants and their representatives from using ‘VIVANTA STAYS’, ‘VIVANTA REALTY’, or any other deceptively similar mark in any form or manner, online or offline.

The Court observed,  “Defendant Nos. 1 to 2, their directors and all others acting for and on behalf of them are hereby restrained from unauthorizedly using the Plaintiff’s well-known and registered trademark ‘VIVANTA’ for its infringing activities bearing the marks VIVANTA STAYS/VIVANTA REALTY or any other mark deceptively similar mark thereto in any form or manner [both online and offline] amounting to infringement of the Plaintiff’s various VIVANTA trademark registrations.”

Further, the Court ordered the defendants to take down all online references to the infringing marks, and directed the domain registrar to lock and suspend the domain name www.vivantastay.in within a week. Reliance Jio and HDFC Bank were also directed to provide KYC details of the phone number and bank account associated with the infringing operations.

The Court found that the balance of convenience lay in favour of the plaintiff and that failure to restrain the defendants would cause irreparable harm to IHCL’s reputation and goodwill.

The matter is next listed before the Court on February 26, 2026.