EPS-OPS tussle: Can a party stake claim for name, flag & symbol? Counsels differ

CHENNAI: After hearing intense arguments, Justice N Sathish Kumar of the Madras High Court reserved the final orders without mentioning any date and extended the interim injunction imposed on O Panneerselvam restraining him from using AIADMK’s symbol, flag and letterhead.

Staking claim over his position in the AIADMK, ousted leader Panneerselvam (OPS) argued that the name, symbol and flag do not belong to any party, while Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) countered that these were proprietary rights of the party he leads.

Justice N Sathish Kumar heard the petition preferred by AIADMK general secretary EPS, seeking to restrain OPS from using the AIADMK’s symbol, flag and official letterhead on Tuesday.

Senior counsel PH Arvind Pandian appearing for OPS submitted that there is no material placed before the court that his client is directly interfering in the party affairs. We are not on the trademark infringement, my client claims himself as the coordinator of the party, so there is no problem with the plaintiff approaching this court. The counsel submitted that all the court’s orders against his client are interim alone, till the suit is pending OPS has rights.

Further, the counsel sought to remove the interim injunction imposed on OPS and contended that the trial should go on in the main suit, claiming symbol, flag and letterhead.

Another senior counsel Abdul Saleem appearing for OPS submitted that lakhs of cadre from AIADMK are still following OPS. Due to the interim injunction, my client’s chance of moving the Election Commission (EC) is curtailed, he added.

Senior counsel Vijay Narayan appearing for EPS submitted that the coordinator post was abolished in the general council meeting held in July 2022. The resolutions, including expelling OPS from the party in the general council meeting, were upheld by various courts, the counsel wondered how can a person, who is not a member of the party can interfere in the party affairs. OPS was using the official letterhead of the party claiming himself as the coordinator sacking various party functionaries and appointing new functionaries, said the counsel.

Further, the counsel submitted that AIADMK has proprietary rights over the symbol, flag and letterhead with long usage, as the party incepted in 1972 and using them continuously. If any person started a new party, can he claim another party’s flag, the counsel wondered.

The counsel submitted that this is election year and if OPS still claims himself as the coordinator of the AIADMK it confuses the general public.

After the submission, the judge reserved the final orders without mentioning any date.