The Delhi High Court has issued a temporary injunction against illegal offshore betting and gambling companies, preventing them from accessing and using domain names that infringe on the trademark of Moonshine Technology Private Limited, the parent company of Baazi Group of Companies, one of the leading real-money gaming operators.
In its complaint, Moonshine Technology Pvt. Ltd. (the plaintiff) stated that the Baazi Group has registered various trademarks, including BAAZI, BAAZI GAMES, BAAZI MOBILE GAMING, and POKERBAAZI. Moonshine asserted that it has been using the Baazi mark since 2014. The rogue websites operate under different names, including BaaziAdda, Baazi247, Baazi365, and LotusBaazi.
The company further stated that it has over 350,000 monthly active users across its different verticals and that its PokerBaazi brand has garnered significant engagement on social media, with over 2 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 400,000 followers on Meta platforms.
The complaint alleged that unidentified individuals have been engaging in cyber-squatting, redirecting users to unauthorized gambling and betting websites. Additionally, these illegal gambling websites are infringing on its registered trademarks and hosting unlawful gambling and casino-related content under infringing domain names and branding.
Moonshine also claimed that the GoDaddy webpage is offering for sale domain names similar to its own. It pointed out that GoDaddy is the same domain name registrar that registered its official domain name.
Justice Mini Pushkarna, while issuing the order, stated that a prima facie case for granting an ex-parte ad-interim injunction had been established. The Court determined that the balance of convenience favored Moonshine and that failing to grant an interim injunction would cause irreparable harm.
The Court further prohibited unidentified defendants from accessing, using, modifying, or transferring the infringing domain names. Additionally, it ordered GoDaddy and other domain name registrars to suspend access to and use of the infringing domain names by their registrants. They were also directed to disclose the details of the registrants of the infringing domain names.
The matter is scheduled for a hearing on July 28, 2025.