BharatPe and PhonePe resolve trademark dispute through an out of court settlement, Delhi High informed

New Delhi: BharatPe and PhonePe have resolved their trademark infringement dispute through an out-of-court settlement, as informed to the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.

Justice Sanjeev Narula was apprised that both parties are withdrawing their respective lawsuits.

After reviewing the settlement agreement, the High Court decreed the suit according to its terms.

"Suit decreed in terms of the settlement agreement dated 17 May 2024," stated the Court.

PhonePe and BharatPe have been entangled in a legal dispute for several years. Previously, both the Delhi High Court and the Bombay High Court dismissed PhonePes interim relief applications.

In its lawsuit before the Delhi High Court, PhonePe contended that "Pe" was an "invented word" and a crucial, dominant, and distinguishing feature of its registered trademarks under the name "PhonePe." PhonePe argued that Resilient Innovations' use of BharatPe, offering identical services, infringed upon its registered trademark and amounted to passing off.

However, the Court determined that both PhonePe and BharatPe were composite marks, and the plaintiff could not claim exclusivity over the Pe suffix alone.

The Court acknowledged that there might be merit in the plaintiff's claim that the Pe suffix, which signifies pay, constituted a dominant or essential feature of the PhonePe mark.

Advocates Mohit Goel, Sidhant Goel, Deepankar Mishra, Abhishek Kotnala, and Karmanya Dev Sharma of Sim and San, led by advocate J Sai Deepak, represented BharatPe (Resilient).

PhonePe was represented by Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, along with Sai Krishna and Shilpa Gupta of Sai Krishna & Associates, and Ruby Singh Ahuja and Akanksha Thapa of Karanjawala & Co.