Trade Mark Infringement: Bombay High Court Restrains Indian Pharma Company From Using Mark 'Deceptively Similar' To International Firm

The Bombay High Court recently restrained an Indian company from using a trade mark, 'deceptively similar' to an International pharmaceutical company, observing that the primary duty of the court is towards the public.

Single-judge Justice Riyaz Chagla restrained Sefier Life Science Private Ltd. an Indian company, which has been manufacturing medicines here and exporting it to various countries. The plaintiff -Les Laboratories Servier, is an international and independent pharmaceutical group governed by a non-profit foundation. It is presently in about 150 countries with more than 22,000 employees all over the world, the court noted.

The dispute was with regards to the plaintiff's trade mark 'SERVIER' which was infringed allegedly by the defendant's mark "SEFIER." 

"A bare perusal of the Plaintiffs' trade mark 'Servier' and the Defendant's impugned trade mark 'Sefier' leaves no manner of doubt that the rival trade marks are phonetically, aurally, visually and structurally similar. This becomes apparent from the fact that the starting letters and the ending letters of the rivals marks are the same and hence there is a greater chance of confusion and deception," Justice Chagla said in the interim order passed on July 19.

In the present case, the judge noted that the goods involved are 'medicinal and pharmaceutical products', thus, he opined that a stricter approach is to be adopted to adjudicate the possibility of confusion of one medicinal product for another by the consumer. The rules of comparison of medicinal or pharmaceutical products, the court said have been laid down by various judgments of the HC and the Supreme Court.

"Amongst the principles is that the similarity and confusion between the products should be examined from the point of view of an ordinary common man of average intelligence instead of that of a specialised medicinal practitioner. Mere existence of the slightest probability of confusion in case of medical product marks, requires that the use of the mark be restrained. This being more so since the primary duty of the Court is towards the public and the purity of the register," the judge observed.

The judge refused to accept the contention of the defendant that its goods are sold under medical prescription as the same are schedule H drugs and thus there will be no confusion or mistake.

"It is well settled that physicians, Doctors and chemists are not immune to confusion or mistake," the judge underlined.

Further, the bench noted that though Defendant has been exporting its products in African countries, even the Plaintiff has secured registrations in numerous countries worldwide including in African countries such as Algeria, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Namibia and Mozambique.

With these observations, the judge restrained the defendants from using the plaintiff's trade mark.

Appearance:

Advocates Hiren Kamod, CA Brijesh, Ishith Arora, Karan Khiani, Aditya Mahadevia, Prem Khullar, Rashmi Singh and Karan Khiani appeared for the Plaintiff.

Advocates Priyanka Kothari, Saurabh Kansal, Raghav Vij and Ashish P Agarkar represented the Defendant.

Case Title: Les Laboratories Servier vs Sefier Life Science Private Ltd. (Com IPR Suit (L)/18086/2024)

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