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Patanjali can’t use ‘Coronil’ to market immunity booster: Madras HC
The court followed it with a stinging rebuke for what it termed was an attempt to make “money, money, money” during the time of the pandemic by projecting an immunity booster as a cure for coronavirus infection.
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Chennai
In a big blow to Baba Ramdev’s Patanajali Ayurved, the Madras High Court on Thursday restrained it from using the term Coronil to market its immunity booster tablets, as the name is already a registered trademark of a Chennai-based company. The court followed it with a stinging rebuke for what it termed was an attempt to make “money, money, money” during the time of the pandemic by projecting an immunity booster as a cure for coronavirus infection.
Justice CV Karthikeyan also imposed a cost of Rs 10 lakh on Patanjali for chasing profits despite being a Rs 10,000 crore company by exploiting the fear and panic among the public by projecting a cure for coronavirus. The defendants, Patanjali Ayurved and Divya Yog Mandir Trust, were asked to pay Rs 5 lakh to the Adyar Cancer Institute and a similar amount to the Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College and Hospital, Arumbakkam, before August 21.
Both organisations were treating patients free of cost without any claim to either trademark, patent or design, but only with service as a motto, the judge noted.
Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and Divya Yog Mandir Trust should have checked the Trade Marks Registry before naming their immunity booster Coronil, as that would have revealed that it was a registered trademark of a firm in Chennai, said Madras High Court on Thursday.
The ruling was based on a plea moved by Patanjali seeking to remove the interim injunction granted to Chennai-based Arudra Engineers Private Ltd, which claimed infringement of its trademark “Coronil-92 B and Coronil-213 SPL” awarded for its industrial cleansing and sanitising agents till 2027.
Holding that the defendants invited the litigation on themselves, Justice CV Karthikeyan said, “A simple check with the Trade Marks Registry would have revealed that Coronil is a registered trademark. If they had, and had still with audacity used the name Coronil, then they deserve no consideration at all. They cannot assume they can bulldoze their way and infringe a registered trademark.”
On the other hand, if they had not checked with the Registry, they were at fault, the judge said. “They cannot plead ignorance and innocence, and seek indulgence from this court,” he said.
In the judgement running to over 100 pages, Justice Karthikeyan held: “The defendants have not shown due cause in naming their product Coronil, when in fact their product does not cure coronavirus and is rather an immunity booster.
“Then most certainly coinage of the term ‘Coronil’ by Patanjali is without due cause and in fact the intention is to mislead the general public. They can always market the products, but they should be honest and declare that it is not a direct cure for coronavirus, but rather an immunity booster. Usage of the word Coronil and usage of the common pictorial image of coronavirus are, to put it very mildly, misleading.”
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