Pune court rejects injunction against SII over 'Covishield' trademark

New Delhi

Earlier this month, Cutis-Biotech, a pharmaceutical products manufacturer and seller based in Maharashtra, had filed a suit in the civil court seeking to restrain SII from using the trademark 'Covishield' or any other similar names for its Covid-19 vaccine, claiming that the pharma company is a prior user of the brand name.

Following this, the Serum Institute of India filed its response in the civil court, saying both the companies operate in different product categories and there is no scope for confusion over the trademark, a company statement said.

Senior advocate S.K Jain appeared for SII along with Hitesh Jain and Pooja Tidke of Parinam law Associates.

Commenting on the development, Hitesh Jain, Managing Partner, Parinam law Associates, said, "Judge A.V. Rote has rejected the application which had sought a perpetual injunction against Serum Institute of India for purposes of restraining it from using the trademark 'Covishield' or any other mark which is confusingly similar to the trademark Covishield in respect of the goods which are same/similar/dissimilar with the goods of the plaintiff."

While rejecting the application, the court also observed that Cutis Biotech (the plaintiff) has not approached the court with clean hands and had suppressed material facts.