IP News Update: Amul wins first trademark infringement case outside the country

Dairy brand Amul has won a big victory in Canada. Amul has won its first trademark infringement case outside the country. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board of Canada has approved the trademark status of the Amul brand. Amul is India's largest co-operative. The brand has also been approved to pay USD 32,733 as compensation for damages. This makes Rs 19.59 lakh in Indian Rupee.

Amul had filed a trademark infringement case in the Federal Court of Canada. This was the first such case by Amul against a company outside India. The Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd, known as Amul Dairy, and the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which oversees the marketing of the Amul brand, have filed a complaint against Amul Canada and 4 others - Mohit Rana, Akash Ghosh, Chandu Das and Patel. A trademark infringement lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court of Canada.

In January 2020, Amul learned that the Amul Canada Group had copied the Amul trademark and its logo 'Amul - The Taste of India'. Along with this, a fake profile has also been created on the social media platform LinkedIn. There was also a job and follow icon on the LinkedIn page of Amul Canada. The four people who have been named as accused were listed as employees of Amul Canada.

Despite several attempts to service the suit on the accused, they never responded. Later Amul’s lawyers brought ex-parte resolution for the default decision. They argued that Amul had never licensed or consented to use its trademarks and copyrights in any way to Amul Canada or any of the four individuals.

The Federal Court of Canada held that the accused had infringed Amul’s copyright and issued an order to permanently restrain them from infringing the trademarks and copyrights of ‘Amul’ and ‘Amul-The Taste of India’. Let us inform that GCMMF has been exporting milk products to America for the last 22 years. It is the 8th largest milk processor globally, with an annual turnover of over Rs 40,000 crore.

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Dr. Deepak Miglani, Email id.:- legalbuddy@gmail.com