The Federal Court of Canada has issued a permanent injunction against a Canadian company ‘Amul Canada’. It was alleged that the company was infringing the trademark and copyright of the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited which is popularly known as ‘Amul’ and Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (plaintiffs). The decision was held by the Canadian Court directing the defendant (Amul Canada) to award damages aggregating nearly CAD 32,733 to plaintiffs.
“The Defendants have directed public attention to their business in such a way as to cause or be likely to cause confusion in Canada, at the time they commenced so to direct public attention to them, between their business and the goods and business of the Plaintiffs, contrary to section 7(b) of the Trademarks Act,” the Court statement reads.
Dr. Rupinder Singh Sodhi, Managing Director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, Ltd. (Amul), tweeted reacting to the development, “Amul has well-known Brand status all over the world so no can use it in any product category. A win of 3.6 million farmers.”
India’s dairy giant and everyone’s favorite Amul filed a case against the company Amul Canada and four others namely Mohit Rana, Akash Ghosh, Chandu Das, and Patel. The Amul alleged them of breaching its trademark and copyright through the Defendants’ LinkedIn website where they were not only advertising its product but we're also using its brand image and name, as well as corporate information. Whereas, Amul vehemently denied issuing any license or permission to either Amul Canada or any of the above-mentioned four individuals to use its trademarks and copyrights in any manner ever.
Amul stated, “We have made numerous attempts to seek a response from the Defendants (Amul Canada and four others) but never received any. Later, our legal counsels initiated an ex-parte motion for default judgment.” The court further observed that every defendant has infringed the copyright of the plaintiffs contrary to section 27 of the Copyright Act and also trademark rights of the plaintiffs, contrary to sections 19 and 20(1)(a) of the Trademarks Act.
The Federal Court also noted: “Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited is the registered owner of Canadian Trademark Registration No. TMA877339, registered on May 7, 2014, for the trademark AMUL, which has been used in Canada since June 30, 2020, in association with the goods milk products.” Advocate Suhrita Majumdarrepresented the dairy giant in India. She is the intellectual property lawyer from S. Majumdar & Co. situated in New Delhi. While it was represented by Michael Adams in Canada. He is the intellectual property lawyer from Riches McKenzie & Herbert LLP.
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