Dabur India and Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan are free to use the words ‘sugar free’ to describe their chyawanprash products.
Cadila plea on Dabur, Baidyanath chyawanprash brand names nixed
NEW DELHI: Dabur India and Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan are free to use the words ‘sugar free’ to describe their chyawanprash products.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday passed an interim order rejecting Cadila Healthcare’s petition seeking an injunction against the two manufacturers from using the words, which are connected to the brand name of its low-calorie sweetener called ‘Sugar Free’.
Justice B D Ahmed rejected Cadila’s claim that the use of the words ‘sugar free’ by Dabur and Baidyanath is likely to cause confusion or deceive consumers about the origin of the sweeteners.
Cadila, which is the leader with 74% share of the sugar substitute business, had moved the court seeking to restrain Dabur and Baidyanath from using its trademark or any other mark that is identical or deceptively similar.
Dabur calls its product Sugar Free Chyawanprakash, while Baidyanath calls it Sugar Free Chyawanprash Granules.
Hemant Singh, lawyer for respondent companies, called it a landmark judgment because it would have significant implications in the field of intellectual property rights.
“It is a message to the industry that where a corporation adopts a descriptive mark as a trademark it should be prepared for competitive use thereof by other members of the industry and all bona fide use of such marks is always in the public domain and can’t be the subject of monopoly,” Singh said.
Cadila’s lawyer Pratibha Singh contended that from the packaging of the chyawanprash appeared as if sugar free was emphasised and written in big alphabets.
This clearly indicates that it has been used as a trademark, which is a violation of the Delhi High Court order which said the expression should be used to describe the characteristic feature of the product only and not as trademark, Pratibha Singh contended.
Cadila said such usage would confuse the public at large that products from both the companies have a connection with Cadila because Sugar Free has come to be identified as a Cadila product alone.
b_rakesh@dnaindia.net
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