Bare-knuckle brand boxing

THE TIFF BETWEEN TITAN AND LENSKART SHOWS BRAND WARFARE IS SHIFTING FROM BILLBOARDS TO ALGORITHMS

- GEETIKA SRIVASTAVA

WHEN TITAN DRAGGED Lenskart to court over something buried deep in its website code, it wasn't about misleading taglines or comparative advertising. The alleged infringement was buried deep in the code, called metatags, that quietly influence search engine results.

Metatags are hidden keywords embedded in a webpage's HTML. While they're invisible to everyday consumers, they help search engines decide which pages show up when someone searches for a particular brand. So, when Titan discovered that Lenskart had embedded its trademarks—Titan, Titan Eye+, and Fastrack—into its own metatags, the company argued that this could unfairly divert consumer traffic. Lenskart said the inclusion was inadvertent and removed the tags, resulting in the case's closure.

But for brands fighting for consumer attention, the incident made way for a larger discussion: In a fiercely competitive market, how ethical is the use of rival brand names to gain online visibility? Could such practices damage equity of the aggressor—and even the affected—brand, and what role do regulators like ASCI play in preventing digital misrepresentation?