The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by a Rajkot-based Gujarati newspaper challenging a Delhi High Court interim order that restrained it from using the name “Saurashtra Aaj Tak”. The Bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, upheld the High Court’s July 30, 2026 order in favour of TV Today Network, the operator of news channel Aaj Tak.

The apex court, however, granted the regional newspaper a three-month transition period to adopt a new name. The High Court had held that TV Today Network had prior user rights over the “Aaj Tak” trademark in the dispute, PTI reported yesterday.

The case arose from a passing-off action filed by TV Today Network against the Rajkot-based publisher over its use of the ‘Saurashtra Aaj Tak’ name. During the proceedings before the Supreme Court, counsel appearing for the Gujarati newspaper argued that TV Today Network had not established its independent legal standing or produced sufficient material to demonstrate prior use of the trademark.

The appellant also pointed out that the registered owner of the ‘Aaj Tak’ trademark is Living Media India Ltd., the parent entity of TV Today Network. It was argued that in the absence of a licence agreement or the impleadment of Living Media India, TV Today Network could not claim statutory or common-law rights under Section 52 of the Trade Marks Act.

The Supreme Court rejected these procedural objections. Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that Section 27 of the Trade Marks Act preserves common-law rights to institute a passing-off action where goodwill and prior commercial use have been established.

The Bench was also not persuaded by the regional publisher’s argument that it had been publishing continuously in the region for around 26 years. The court’s decision reinforces the protection available to established brands with prior goodwill and public association, particularly where another publication uses a deceptively similar name that could create an association with the established brand.

With the Supreme Court upholding the Delhi High Court’s interim order, the Rajkot-based newspaper will now have three months to discontinue the “Saurashtra Aaj Tak” name and transition to a new identity.

This version keeps the legal arguments and court observations intact while making the sequence of the dispute easier to follow for media-industry readers.