Salt manufacturer seeks trademark for product, says he has been using brand for last 3 yrs.
Even as the country’s apex cricket body BCCI and the Zee group continue to fight over the trademark rights of the 20-20 format of cricket, couple of other entities selling salt and tobacco products have joined the ‘big fight’.
As per information from the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Gujarat-based Ahir Salt Industries has filed an application for acquiring the trademark with the authorities of ‘Twenty20’ and thereby sell salt in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh using it.
When contacted, owner of Ahir Salt Industries Ajabhai Ahir said, “I have been selling salt products under brand name ‘Twenty20’ for three years in various states of India.”
Though he is an ardent fan of cricket, his brand name has nothing to do with cricket. “I have been using this brand name much before this format of cricket came into existence,” he said. Reasoning the choice of brand name Ahir said that ‘Twenty 20’ is a very attractive name and easy for customers to register.
“I had filed an application to get ‘Twenty 20’ as trademark for my product almost a year ago” he said. Interestingly, Ahir’s decision to name his product Twenty20 was inspired by Britannia’s biscuit brand 50-50. Ahir also told DNA that with the increase in sales of his product they decided to get the brand name registered. “This decision was also done to save our product from duplication,” Ahir added.
An application has also been filed for registering a trademark under the name ‘TWENTY-20’ by an entity in Karnataka selling gutkha and tobacco. Besides this, another trademark has been sought by the Indian Twenty Cricket Federation and by a Punjab-based entity selling sporting articles (except clothing).
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already opposed the Zee group’s Essel Sports’ move to get various trademarks involving phrases like Twenty-Twenty and its other combinations.
Some such trademarks include ‘T20’, ‘T twenty’, ‘20-Twenty Cricket’, ‘Twenty-Twenty Cricket’ & ‘Twenty-20’.
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