The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea against a decision by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks granting certificate of trademark on the picture of the deity at Attukal Devi Temple and the description that the temple is the ‘Sabarimala of women.’
Dismissing the plea, the High Court observed that the trademark restricts commercialisation of services offered in the name of the deity and prohibits such activity by others. “We do not see any merit in the grievances projected by the petitioner against the registration of trademark on the picture of the deity at Attukal Devi Temple,” said a Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K Vinod Chandran.
The High Court was considering a plea in the form of a faxed letter from R S Praveen Raj of Thiruvananthapuram. The petitioner pointed out that the Temple Trust got the certificate of trademark from the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks on March 9, 2009 to exclusively use the picture and the appellation.
The Trust had said that it would help in preventing unauthorised use of the picture and title.
The court issued the verdict after considering the arguments of advocate Sathosh Mathew who was appointed as Amicus Curiae to help the court. Presenting his arguments, the advocate said that Attukal deity is common and the same cannot be monopolised by the Trust.