Hello Readers!! There has been a lot that has been brewing over the past few weeks with respect to Trademarks. We have decided to recapitulate the trademark news which have recently hit the headlines in our segment, Weekly Trends. Let us take a quick look at what happened in the past weeks, with this weekly update.
Sephora – cosmetics prevail over footwear
Sephora is a prominent cosmetic company with French origin that recently got embroiled in a case with a local company in India. The reason for the dispute is that the local company sells footwears under the name ‘Sephora’ which is also the name of a renowned international brand that is owned by LVHM (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) that has received a trademark for the same in India.
The main contention in the lawsuit instituted by the French company Sephora is that the company has hundreds of outlets in over 30 countries and has received a trademark for the use of the name ‘Sephora’ in India since 2007. (Sephora Cosmetics Private Ltd).It had registered its local unit as Sephora Cosmetics Private Ltd in 2007 and eventually its internet domain name ‘Sephora.in’.Therefore, for the same name to be allotted to another company goes against trademark regulations and policies.
However, latest news reveals that the parties have agreed to settle the matter amicably.
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Bombay High Court dismisses suit instituted by Vogue
The Bombay High Court dismissed a trademark infringement case instituted by the famed publishers of ‘Vogue’ magazine against a retail store chain ‘Just Lifestyle Private Ltd.’
The latter mentioned store owns the licenses of reputed brands like Calvin Klein, Diesel and others in India. “Advance Magazine” the publishers behind Vogue have claimed that the Indian retail store’s use of the title ‘Just in Vogue’ is in direct contradiction with trademark regulations as it is very similar to Vogue’s own brand name.
However, the Bombay High Court did not hold the same view as it held that since the services offered by both the brands were different (one related to magazine publishing and the other to sales services), it would be far-fetched to believe that the consumers would be confused and be misled by the similarity in the name.
The decision was finally cemented when the court went ahead to clarify that Vogue was just a descriptive word used to mean ‘in fashion’ and that outlets that chose to describe their trendy goods as such could not be held to be in the wrong. If their goods were in vogue, then they could go ahead and say so.
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British MNC GlaxoSmithKline wins trademark infringement suit against GSK life sciences.
After three years in court, British MNC GlaxoSmithKline has won the case regarding trademark infringement against a Hyderabad company that uses the same acronym.The Delhi High Court ruled in favour of Glaxo and decreed a permanent injunction against the use of the acronym GSK by GSK Life Sciences Private Ltd, a company operating out of Hyderabad. Glaxo, the global drug maker, won the case after three long years in court.
The judgment was delivered by Justice Vibhu Bakru who held that GSK Life Sciences was now also liable to deliver all printed matter bearing the title ‘GSK’ – including packaging boxes, stationary, labels and so on to GlaxoSmithKline for destruction.
GlaxoSmithKline had initially approached the court in 2013 claiming that GSK Life Sciences not only used the same trademark but also that the logo used was ‘exactly similar’ to that of Glaxo which was an infringement according to Section 29 (5) of Trade Marks Act, 1999. The court passed an ex parte ad interim injunction restraining the Indian company from using the trademark ‘GSK’ for the purposes of trade as it was already registered in the name of the UK firm.
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Authored By- Priyanka Ashok
