Amul wins trademark case in Canada; check details

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India’s largest co operative diary brand Amul and the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has won a trademark case in Canada, the first time the diary brand had filed a case against a company on foreign soil.

The diary giant had approached the Federal Court Of Canada to file a lawsuit on Amul Canada and four others — Mohit Rana, Akash Gosh, Chandu Dash and Patel, according to a report by The Times of India.

The Case

Back in January 2020, Amul had discovered that the group had copied the trademark and the logo of Amul-The Taste Of India and also created a fake profile in Linkedin. The Canadian Amul brand also had sections like view jobs and follow and the four defendants were listed as employees of the group.

On its part, Amul had put forth the argument that it had never gave consent or permission to Amul Canada or the four individuals to use the trademarks and copyrights of Amul, after several attempts of the service of suits on defendants.

Judgement

The Federal court of Canada was of the view that the defendants had indeed infringed the copyright of Amul and had issued restraining order on the four individuals from infringing the trademarks and copyrights of Amul and Amul-The Taste Of India. It also added Amul has clearly satisfied all the elements needed to pass off the test being-existence of goodwill, deception of public due to misrepresentation, actual or potential damages to Amul.

The world’s eight largest milk processor was ascribed the trademark status and also got its recognition for the ‘The Taste Of India’ brand. Further, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board Of Canada has also agreed to pay Amul 32,733 Canadian dollars for damages.