Madras HC rules in favour of Karnataka co-op society in Nandini trademark case
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ruled in favour of the Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited (KMF) over the use of the name Nandini, in a trademark dispute with Shalimar Agarbatti Company which sought registration of Nandini as a trademark for agarbattis. Nandini is the brand name under which milk and milk products are sold by KMF.
The court held that phonetically the word Nandini is the same and Shalimar Agarbatti Company designed the offending mark in the same style adopted by KMF.
Considering the fact that the appellant developed a huge reputation with Nandini for a long period, the phonetic similarity and the manner in which the Shalini Agarbatti Company has written the same word, its trademark would certainly make the offending mark deceptively similar and mislead customers, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said in a recent judgment citing a Supreme Court verdict in a similar case.
He stated that the Deputy Registrar of Trademarks has not taken into consideration the above crucial aspects and has erroneously rejected the objections filed by the appellant.
Allowing the appeal filed by KMF, the judge set aside the impugned order passed by Deputy Registrar of Trademarks dated April 5, 2010.