MakeMyTrip sues EaseMyTrip alleging trademark violation

Online travel firm MakeMyTrip has filed a case against its rival EaseMyTrip in the Delhi high court over trademark infringement. Search engine giant Google has been made a party to the suit.

In the complaint, Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip accused EaseMyTrip of taking advantage of the “makemytrip” ad-word to come on top of Google search results.

This is the first time that Google has been dragged into a legal suit by a major Indian internet commerce company. It may have to appear in court to explain its stand.

Gurugram-based MakeMytrip claims that it has to pay more to come on top for every search result on its own name. An industry expert told Times of India that the “competitive bidding on brand's word mark raises the cost per click on Google platform by up to three-to-four times.”

Earlier this month, officials of MakeMyTrip had raised the matter in a meeting with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), which is under the ministry of commerce and industry.

The matter is scheduled for hearing in Delhi high court on May 8, as per court documents. It states that MakeMyTrip had sent a cease and desist notice to EaseMyTrip in September 2018 but it did not receive any response, and that EaseMyTrip still continues to use the ad-word “makemytrip”.