Bombay High Court Upholds Injunction Against The New Indian Express in Trademark Dispute with The Indian Express

June 15, 2026 : The Bombay High Court has upheld an interim injunction restraining The New Indian Express from using its brand name beyond the territories permitted under a family settlement and trademark arrangement, delivering a significant ruling in a long-running dispute between two entities of the erstwhile Indian Express Group.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande dismissed an appeal filed by Express Publications Madurai Limited (EPML) and affirmed an earlier order passed by a single-judge bench in favour of The Indian Express. The court held that EPML could not use the The New Indian Express brand outside the geographical limits prescribed under the parties’ contractual agreements.

The dispute has its roots in the division of the Indian Express Group following the death of founder Ramnath Goenka in 1991. Under a Memorandum of Settlement executed in 1995 and a supplementary agreement signed in 2005, ownership of the “Indian Express” trademark remained exclusively with The Indian Express, headed by Viveck Goenka.

As part of the settlement, EPML, controlled by Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, was granted limited rights to publish newspapers under the title The New Indian Express in specified southern States and Union Territories. However, the controversy arose after EPML organized an event titled “The New Indian Express – Mumbai Dialogues” in Mumbai in September 2024, a location outside the territories covered by the agreement.

The single-judge bench had earlier ruled that the use of the brand in Mumbai violated the binding consent decree governing the parties. The court observed that The New Indian Express was a derivative mark of the Indian Express trademark and that EPML’s rights were restricted to a territorially limited licence.

Rejecting EPML’s claim of independent ownership rights over the mark, the court had held that the settlement conferred only a conditional and restricted licence. Endorsing these findings, the Division Bench found no reason to interfere with the injunction and ordered that the restrictions would continue.

With the ruling, EPML remains barred from using the The New Indian Express brand for events, programmes, or related activities outside the southern territories specified under the settlement agreements, reinforcing the contractual limitations governing the use of the trademark.