Global brands are being usurped by sundry companies in India, if the data from the registrar of companies is any indication.
Global brands are being usurped by sundry companies in India, if the data from the registrar of companies is any indication.
Hence, it comes as no surprise that Walt Disney is making footware in Andhra Pradesh and Bill Gates is exporting undergarments from Maharashtra. Nike is trading in cotton in Tamil Nadu and MTV is running a chit fund in New Delhi.
“At least 70 of the 100 most valuable brands as listed by brand consultant, Interbrand, continue to face threat to their intellectual property (IP) from registered Indian companies despite the provisions of trademarks act, 1999 and the corresponding amendments to Section 22 of the companies act, 1956,” Chennai-based trademark attorney Arun Abraham said.
Avon is the favourite brand among masqueraders with over 200 conflicting registrations. Apples, Intel, Amazon and Rolex follow suit.
A 1993 Delhi high court judgment in a passing-off action brought by Daimler Benz against VIP for using the brand name ‘Benz’ and its pointed-star symbol, said that the symbol was not up for grabs. The court, while granting an injunction restraining the misuse of the symbol and logo, observed that “the trademark law is not intended to protect a person who deliberately sets out to take the benefit of somebody else’s reputation with reference to goods, especially when the reputation extends worldwide”.
The 2003 amendment to the companies act empowers the registrar of companies to order a company to change its name within three months, if it infringes on somebody else’s trademark. Anybody can challenge a company name within five years of its registration.
However, five years down the line, trademark piracy is as rampant. Hermes is a classic example. The registrar of companies has already approved four applications by different companies to use it as part of their company names since 2006.
“We need to instill confidence in our IP system. The government could think on the lines of Icaan uniform dispute resolution policy and an independent tribunal to act on the complaints of trademark owners,” Abraham said.
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