MakeMyTrip (MMT), which got listed on the Nasdaq today, finds itself in rough weather, with Ezeego.com, a group company of Cox and Kings and a competitor in the online travel segment, initiating legal proceedings against it. The hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Cox and Kings has also written a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on August 5, highlighting MMT’s failure to disclose in its registration statement the existence of criminal proceedings currently pending against the company in India. SEC hasn’t replied to the letter yet.
MakeMyTrip refused to comment. Ezeego.com has alleged MMT registered domain names similar to its Ezeego1.com, in 2007-08. Cox and Kings Ltd has a 14.98 per cent stake in Ezeego1.com and the latter is seeking compensation of $15-20 million from MMT.
The criminal proceedings initiated by Ezeego1.com, among others, are for violations of the India Trade Mark Act, 1999 and are currently pending before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate, 37th Court, at Esplanade, Mumbai.
Peter Lobo, Legal Consul for Ezeego1.com, said: “Ezeego1.com spent close to Rs 33 crore in advertising for popularising its domain name. When MakeMyTrip registered deceptively similar domain names, they not only diverted Ezeego1.com’s user traffic of up to 10-20 million hits, but also gained undue advantage due to the popularity of the domain as a result of the advertising by the complainant.”