News Broadcasting
CNN triumphs in trademark battle against GNN India
MUMBAI: Four years on, US cable and satellite television giant CNN has finally won a trademark battle against media company GNN India Ltd (GNN) after taking it to court for using a similar logo.
The Chennai bench of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), headed by Justice Manmohan Singh, while issuing an order in February this year, said the Indian firm adopted the trademark ‘GNN’ that is confusingly and deceptively similar to the American media company’s trademark ‘CNN’.
The bench also directed the registrar of trademarks to remove the already registered trademark of the Indian company from the trademark register. “The respondent (GNN) has cleverly structured the impugned mark ‘GNN’ with a view to coming close to the ‘CNN’ trademark,” the order said.
GNN was founded in 2009 by Manoranjana Sinh, estranged wife of former Union minister Matang Sinh. Both of them were arrested by the CBI separately for their alleged involvement in the Rs 2,000 crore Saradha chit fund scam.
The American news channel moved the IPAB in April 2014 after it learned of the impugned mark being registered with the trademark register.
The IPAB chairman, while issuing his final order in the case, observed that the Indian firm had adopted the original trademark with bad faith.
“From an overall comparison of the marks, it is apparent that the rival marks are extremely similar. As such it will lead to a likelihood of association with the brand ‘CNN’ whose services, being broadcasting and telecommunication, are virtually identical,” the order stated, adding that it clearly displays the Indian firm’s unlawful intent to trade upon the goodwill and worldwide reputation associated with the ‘CNN’ trademark.
GNN did not file any counter statement nor did it appear on the dates on which it was summoned by the appellate board. “The company has not been able to justify how it hit upon an identical mark as an imitation of the trademark of CNN,” the order said.
“The objective of maintaining a trademark register is that the public should know whose goods they are buying and with whom particular goods are associated,” the order added.
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
