What if I told you that there was a way to get free prasad from the Pran Prathishta (consecration) ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh? Surely this question would have piqued the interest of many devotees. Many would have also come across text messages, Instagram posts stating that “Khadi Organic” was providing delivery of free prasad from the consecration ceremony against a delivery charge of merely INR 51/-. Also, chances are that many people would have confused “Khadi Organic” with the well known trademark “Khadi”. In a case concerning the last issue, the Delhi High Court recently passed an ex-parte ad interim injunction order, holding that “Khadi Organic” and Khadi and Village Industries Commission’s (the plaintiff) well known “Khadi” trademark are prima facie deceptively similar. Consequently, the Court restrained Mr. Ashish Singh and M/s DrillMaps India Private Limited (the defendants) from using the impugned mark and the domain name www[dot]khadiorganic[dot]com.
Alleging misappropriation of its “Khadi” mark, the plaintiff argued that the defendant, by using the impugned mark, is giving a false impression that the plaintiff is affiliated with the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust (the consecration ceremony organizing body) and thus, approached the Court for an ad interim injunction. I checked the defendant’s website using the wayback machine and interestingly it initially gave the impression they are providing the prasad from the Ram Mandir (see screen shot from Wayback Machine on January 6 below).
But later, it was clarified that the defendants have no association/ affiliation with the Trust (see here and here). However, in trying to clarify their position with regard to their (dis)association with the Trust, looks like the defendants forgot about trademark law!
In the short 12 page order, the Court notes that the impugned mark “Khadi Organic” fully incorporates the well known “Khadi” mark. The court also went a step further from the infringement analysis and issued a finding on the overall mala fide intent of the defendants, holding them accountable for attempting to monopolize the consecration event and “preying on the public’s religious beliefs and devotion and deceiving them.”
Unsurprisingly, consequent to this order, the defendants have taken down their website and social media pages using the “Khadi Organic” mark. They have also assured to pay back the delivery charges accumulated. But what about the personally identifiable data of the buyers who have placed those 20 lakhs orders with the defendants? Nothing on that has been mentioned in the above linked notice.
