Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd, branded as 'Sardar', last year sued a Gujarat-based manufacturer for infringement of the PSU’s trademark. The firm had branded its fertiliser as ‘Sardar Seven Star’.
Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited. Photo: company website
New Delhi: The Gujarat government has won a case related to its trademark rights over the word ‘Sardar’ for the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and forced an industrialist to change the name of one of his products, the Times of India reported.
Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GSFC), a public sector undertaking (PSU) of the state government branded as ‘Sardar’, last year sued one Dashrath Patel of Indian Agro Chemicals, a manufacturer from Dholka GIDC, for infringement of the PSU’s trademark. The manufacturer had branded its fertiliser as ‘Sardar Seven Star’.
In September 2020, GSFC had filed a trademark suit with the Ahmedabad rural court in Mirzapur, claiming that it enjoys trademark rights over the word ‘Sardar’ for various fertiliser and chemical products because it has got a registered label since 1967, TOI reported.
Indian Agro immediately dropped the word ‘Sardar’ from its product brand and changed it to ‘Sarkar Seven Star’. However, it later stopped using the word ‘Sarkar’ also.
Last month, the company informed the court that it has already stopped using the disputed trademark, and requested for non-payment of any damages to GSFC. It also assured the court that it would not use these disputed trademarks for its products.
GSFC had claimed of Rs 1 crore for loss of reputation and goodwill with 12% interest per annum.
This is not the first time the Gujarat government has got into a fight over its trademark rights over the word ‘Sardar’.
A few years ago, GSFC had sued one Sardar Biochem Fertilizer to city court on this issue.
According to the TOI report, the company’s owner, Ashok Patel, was adamant regarding ownership of brand ‘Sardar’ and put forth an argument that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel belongs to the Patidar community. He told the court that being a community member, he enjoys a right to use the word ‘Sardar’.
Patel passed away during the pandemic last year and GSFC withdrew its case, his advocate Samrat Mehta told the newspaper.
SOURCE ; TRT AND WORLD
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