India’s Go First mulls suit against Go Holdings over brands

Go First (Mumbai International) may pursue legal proceedings against Jeh Wadia, the airline’s former managing director who stepped down in March, over a tussle for the registration of trademarks associated with the company.

GoAir (Mumbai International) announced two weeks ago that it was rebranding itself as Go First and adopting an ultra-low-cost model. It is now considering turning to the courts to solidify its ownership of all the trademarks and domain names used by the company, the Hindu Business Line newspaper reported.

Jeh, the younger son of Wadia Group conglomerate patriarch Nusli Wadia, had headed GoAir since its inception in 2005. Go Holdings, in which Jeh holds a 99% stake, made two applications to the Registrar of Trade Marks in March for the registration of the brands ‘Go Airlines’ and ‘www.goair.in’. In April, he applied to the National Internet Exchange of India to transfer 115 Go-associated domain names from one domain registrar, Net4India Ltd, to another, Network Solutions.

The airline mentioned the dispute under “risk factors” in its draft red herring prospectus issued on May 14 ahead of its planned Initial Public Offering (IPO).

“Our company is opposing the aforesaid applications and has also applied for the registration of these two-word marks in our own name. The company also intends to take necessary steps and pursue legal options to establish its ownership over all the trademarks and domain names,” the offer document declared.

The airline has informed Jeh Wadia that it “is the factual and legal owner of all trademarks which are used by the company, and not all trademarks which are used by the company are registered in the name of Go Holdings,” it added.

According to the prospectus, the board and the shareholders had approved the extension of Wadia’s position as managing director for a further five years from January 1, 2021, but Wadia had not signed this agreement.

According to the airline, written licence agreements had been in place between it and Go Holdings governing the use of trademarks, also including the names Go, GoAir, and Fly Smart, between 2006 and 2009 and between 2013 and 2014 but not outside these years.