Supreme Law News

Vistara bows down to Frankfinn in the trademark case

The company Frankfinn Aviation Services, which offers training in industries like hospitality and aviation, had taken issue with Vistara's usage of the "Fly Higher" tagline in their commercials.

"Fly High" and "Fly Higher" are phrases that Vistara Airlines has informed the Delhi High Court it will not be claiming as its own trademark [Frankfinn Aviation Services Private Limited v TATA Sia Airlines Ltd].

The assurance was submitted in a trademark lawsuit brought by Frankfinn Aviation Services, a company that provides training in industries, including hospitality and aviation before the bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh.

In its lawsuit, Frankfinn claimed to have trademark rights over the phrase "Fly High." The lawsuit was brought after Vistara began utilizing the tagline "Fly Higher" in a 2018 advertising campaign.

Following Frankfinn's request for relief, the High Court ordered the airline to refrain from using the slogan in February 2022.

In November 2022, this decree was revoked.

In July of this year, Vistara presented Frankfinn with a plan to resolve the conflict.

The airline, which is owned by Tata, stated that if Frankfinn consents to the idea that using "Fly High" or "Fly Higher" in Vistara's marketing efforts would not be considered trademark use, it will not submit any application to register the terms as trademarks.

Judge Singh stated in an order dated December 4 that Frankfinn Aviation has consented to not raise any issues with the slogans being used in a non-trademark capacity.

Additionally, it stated that Vistara has agreed to refrain from using the phrase "Fly Higher" in a trademarked manner.

Vistara went on to say that it will not challenge Frankfinn Aviation's trademark application for the phrase "Fly High."

Nonetheless, "Fly High" or "Fly Higher" may be freely used by the Defendant (Vistara) in non-trade mark contexts, as well as in advertising campaigns, has and keyword groups. In this regard, Plaintiff (Frankfinn) has no objections, the Court said.

The Court went on to state that these provisions "shall not be read against any other entities including group companies" and that they are only obligatory on the persons involved directly.

The High Court resolved the lawsuit that Frankfinn Aviation filed in 2022 on these grounds.

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