OkTataByeBye, Confusing Name? MakeMyTrip Loses Case Against Tata

Posted under India Travel
on Monday, 31 August 2009
by admin

Here is a chicken and egg question: Which came first, Tata – the Indian business conglomerate or tata – the synonym for good bye? Personally speaking, it doesn’t matter. When my friend says tata as he leaves my home, I’ve not stopped to wonder why he is uttering Tata’s name and not Ambani’s. That’s because, to me, Tata the company and tata, the good bye word are entirely different.

oktatabyebye

But that is not what Tata Sons think. A good three years after MakeMyTrip.com launched an online travel community and called it OkTataByeBye.com, Tata Sons finally realized that there is a ‘tata’ in the name which badly hurts their image. In their words, the name was registered “to misappropriate the reputation associated with the Complainant’s well-known and famous trademark TATA.”

The case in this regard was filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and after close to four months of hearing, WIPO has ruled in favour of the Tatas. It is not surprising that WIPO has ruled in Tata’s favour, but the question to be asked is what is with the timing of this allegation? MakeMyTrip is one of the leaders in the online travel segment and it is a shame if the authorities in Tata Sons hadn’t known the existence of OkTataByeBye.com for so long. If they had known about it, why is the case being filed now. All I can speculate is that Tata is probably eyeing an entry in this segment pretty soon.

Anyway, all is not over for MakeMyTrip as yet. The company shall be approaching the Delhi High Court soon and I hope sanity prevails. What do you guys think? Is Tata right in disputing the usage of their name in OkTataByeBye.com? Tell us in the comments.

P.S. : To answer the question asked in the beginning, the good bye word came first. In 1823. Yes, I know I have no life