Amul Dairy had filed a case with the Federal Court of Canada over trademark infringement by a group called ‘Amul Canada’, wins the case, to receive ₹19.59 lakhs as damages.
The Intellectual Property Appellate Board of Canada has granted trademark recognition to Amul, India’s largest dairy brand.
Amul CEO Dr. R. S. Sodhi tweeted about the development, saying, “Amul has a well-known Brand status all over the world, hence no one can use it in any product category.” It is a win of 3.6 million farmers.”
Amul Dairy (also known as Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited) had launched a complaint in the Federal Court of Canada against a group called ‘Amul Canada’ for trademark infringement. The bogus organization is led by four individuals: Chandu Das, Akash Ghosh, Mohit Rana, and one Patel.
The defendants had set up a LinkedIn page called ‘Amul Canada’ and identified themselves as employees of the company. The organization blatantly stole the Indian dairy brand’s logo and trademark. Three of the accused had removed their LinkedIn profiles at the time this piece was written. They had also failed to answer to the court summons, leading Amul’s lawyers to file an ex-parte motion for default judgement.
Amul Dairy stated that it had neither licensed nor authorized the ‘Amul Canada’ group to utilize its trademarks or copyrights in any form. The Federal Court of Canada barred the defendants from permanently infringing on Amul’s trademark and copyrights.
Amul Dairy received a total of CAD 32,733 (19.59 lakhs) in compensation. S. Majumdar and Co. handled the brand in India, while Riches Mckenzie & Herbert LLP represented the company in Canada.
Amul’s marketing arm, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), has been supplying Amul goods to the United States for the past 22 years. For the past two years, it has also exported dairy snacks, ice cream, and Amul Kool to Canada. Amul is one of the world’s top eight milk producers, with yearly revenue of 40K crores.
R. S. Sodhi stated, “This was only feasible because we were aware and presented the supporting documentation substantiating our assertions.” We believe that such orders will dissuade counterfeiters and infringers around the world from hijacking someone else’s IPR that has been established with a lot of effort and eventually becomes an identity for the company or even a nation.”