The Delhi High Court passed an order for the messaging platforms WhatsApp and Telegram to delete all groups/ channels/ community groups and accounts that committed fraud by misusing the trademark of venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.
On January 24, Justice Sanjeev Narula passed an order which stated that the accounts and channels were used for duping people, and it would cause grave damage or loss to Sequoia Capital if an order was not passed.
The High Court directed the Domain Name Registrar (DNR) to suspend the domain names and maintain status quo when it came to ownership of the domain names which were used by people for committing fraud in the name of Sequoia.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications were ordered to issue notifications to all telecom and internet service providers to permanently restrict access to all the telephone numbers, websites and domain names which were alleged to have been misusing the trademark, stated a media report.
In September 2023, Sequoia Capital was informed that a WhatsApp group named John Analyst Group which was managed by 303 people identified themselves as Sequoia Capital Investors Advisors and Sequoia Capital BTC Trading Team, which was purportedly a part of the Sequoia Capital Group, highlighted the report.
The informant had highlighted that she was added to the group without her consent where the group admins circulated trading and investment advice. As Sequoia Capital investigated the matter, which reached the gates of the Delhi High Court, Justice Narula came to the conclusion that the fraudsters attracted unsuspecting consumers who used the venture capital’s trademark.