The Bombay High court ruled that names of Hindu deities are not exclusive and no one can claim a monopoly over them through trademarks in response to a company's plea
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The Bombay High court ruled that names of Hindu deities are not exclusive and no one can claim a monopoly over them through trademarks. The ruling came in response to Freudenberg Gala Household Product Private Limited's plea against GEBI Products over the rights of the name Laxmi.
According to Hindustan Times, Freudenberg Gala Household Product Private Limited has stated in its plea that they have been utilising the name 'Laxmi' since 1995 and had got it registered in 2003. The firm manufactures household cleaning products like mops and brooms.
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In 2015, they came across GEBI Products, who they sought an injunction against, that they have been marketing similar products under the name 'Mahalaxmi.' They argued that GEBI products have been deliberately using a name for their products identical to their trade mark and hence wanted to restrain them from using it.
GEBI products in return argued that the name Laxmi is a common Hindu name, which cannot be allowed to become exclusively trademarked by a party.
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Agreeing with them, the HC rejected the appeal of Freudenberg Gala Household Product Private Limited. The court further noted that both products in question were not identical in any way so no confusion would arise among consumers.
The HC stated in its judgment that in the case of trademark infringement, both rival marks are supposed to be identical in appearance, which was clearly not the case in terms of both products. The court said that while 'Laxmi' was written in 3D font, 'Mahalaxmi' was in regular writing. The text colour also varied with the former being in navy blue and latter in red. Besides, the background of the first was pink while the second was in yellow, green and blue. Also, the wrappers of both products were drastically different from each other.
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