Companies looking to encash on a rival’s reputation by launching a phonetically similar brand beware! The Delhi High Court has warned that such deceptive marketing techniques need to be curbed.
The court’s warning came during the hearing on a dispute involving two pharmaceutical companies.
Justice VK Jain restrained XXXX Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. from making a cough syrup under the brand name XXXX as it sounded like XXXXXX Products’ popular cough syrup by the name XXXXX.
Holding that companies cannot cash in on reputation of popular brands by deceptive means, the court said: “A competitor cannot usurp the goodwill and reputation of another by adopting a mark similar to the established mark of its competitor and thereby cause injury to the reputation and business of that person.”
“Any attempt on the part of another person to encash upon the brand value generated by another person needs to be curbed by the court,” said Justice Jain in his order delivered earlier this month.
It also alleged that there was likelihood of customers getting induced to believe that the product offered by the defendant was of the same quality as the product of the plaintiff.
The court further observed “We cannot be oblivious of the fact that despite statutory requirements, the chemist and druggist in our country do not hesitate in selling drugs such as cough syrups and expectorants, without insisting upon prescription by a medical practitioner, even if such a prescription is statutorily required,” .
“Drugs such as cough syrups are available over the counter without medical prescription and such similarity in brands would make an impression that they were buying the product of the company which is reputed and well-known,” the court said.
No comments:
Post a Comment