Popular Ghee Brand ‘Udhayam’ Loses Trademark Rights
The trademark for ‘Udhayam’ and ‘GRB’s Udhayam’ a popular ghee brand in the South Indian Sates has been cancelled by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) by an order passed by the board. The order was passed by the board after Shri Lakshmi Agro Foods Pvt Ltd, a Chennai-based company that sells dhal and other groceries under the brand name ‘Udhaiyam’ filed a lawsuit against GRB Dairy Food Pvt Ltd for trademark infringement.
The attorney appearing for Shri Lakshmi Agro Foods argued that they have been using the brand since 1940 to sell groceries and that the accused GRB Dairy Food Pvt Ltd had in recent years been dishonestly using the Udhayam brand name for the purpose of marketing ghee. The IPAB board passed the order after examining this rectification application filed by Shri Lakshmi Agro Foods Pvt Ltd.
The counsel appearing for GRB Dairy Food, however, argued that their client had registered ‘GRB’s Udhayam Ghee’ as a trademark in 1993 and has since been using the name for the marketing of its products.
In spite of the counter arguments by GRB Dairy Food, the board’s vice-chairman S Usha and technical member Sanjeev Kumar Chaswal, rejected the arguments and passed the order directing the Registrar of the Trademarks Registry to cancel the trademarks of ‘Udhayam’ and ‘GRB’s Udhayam’.
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