MUMBAI, 11 April 2023: An arbitrator appointed by the Bombay High Court in 2019 to adjudicate disputes between Fairfest Media Ltd and Messe Berlin GmbH has issued permanent injunctions against Messe Berlin GmbH that prevents it from using confidential information that Fairfest Media Ltd shared with Messe Berlin GmbH.
However, the high court noted that Messe Berlin GmbH had been allowed to conduct its shows in India but ruled the award permanently restrains Messe Berlin from using the confidential information shared with it by Fairfest Media Ltd when organising competing travel trade fairs in India.
Messe Berlin Singapore is organising the in-person ITB Asia in Mumbai from 26 to 28 April 2023.
In a press statement released last week, Fairfest Media Ltd noted that it was bound to enforce the 9 March 2023 award issued in its favour. It intends to “take all necessary steps available under the law to ensure that Messe Berlin GmbH does not misuse its confidential information in organising the ITB India.”
In 2019, Fairfest Media Limited, the travel trade show OTM Mumbai organiser, took Messe Berlin GmbH, a German state-owned company, to court for an alleged breach of a non-disclosure agreement. The court appointed an arbitrator who passed an interim injunction order against Messe Berlin GmbH pending the passing of the award in the Arbitration and for eight weeks thereafter.
The present award, dated 9 March 2023, is a permanent injunction against Messe Berlin GmbH, prohibiting it from using Fairfest’s confidential information in holding ITB India.
During the original hearings, Messe Berlin challenged the arbitrator’s jurisdiction, and the arbitrator ruled that it had jurisdiction on issues related to the breach of the NDA. However, the arbitrator ruled that it did not deal with the issues related to copyright/trademark and further confidential information obtained by Messe Berlin under a Letter of Intent (LOI) executed later to the NDA, which designated Singapore as the jurisdiction.
(Source: Fairfest Media statement)
