The Intellectual Property Appellate Board cancelled the trademarks ‘Udhayam’ and ‘GRB’s Udhayam’ of a popular ghee brand in the southern States in an order passed by the board on Friday.
The board passed the order after hearing a rectification application filed by Shri Lakshmi Agro Foods Pvt Ltd, a Chennai-based company that sells dhal and other groceries under the brand name ‘Udhaiyam’.
Counsel for Shri Lakshmi Agro Foods contended that they had been using the brand name since 1940 to sell groceries and GRB Dairy Food Pvt Ltd had in recent years been dishonestly using the Udhayam brand name to market ghee.
The counsel for GRB Dairy Food contended that they had registered ‘GRB’s Udhayam Ghee’ as a trademark in 1993.
The order passed by the board’s vice-chairman S Usha and technical member Sanjeev Kumar Chaswal, rejected the arguments of GRB Dairy Food and directed the Register, Trademarks Registry, to cancel the trademarks ‘Udhayam’ and ‘GRB’s Udhayam’.