In Tea Board, India v ITC Limited – a case which is likely to affect the protection of geographical indications (GI) rights in India – Calcutta High Court held the word “Darjeeling” cannot be exclusively claimed by the Tea Board despite its registration as a GI or as a certification trademark.
Deciding in favour of ITC, which has a lounge called the “Darjeeling Lounge” in one of its hotels, the court held that “there is scarcely any likelihood of deception or confusion in the lounge being named ‘Darjeeling’ for the plaintiff to be granted to any order that it seeks”.
The Tea Board, a statutory body set up under The Tea Act, 1953, is the registered owner of the two sets of trademarks: “Darjeeling” and a round device with the profile of a woman holding tea leaves with the word Darjeeling around the side. The word and device marks were independently registered under the Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999, (GI Act) and the Trade Marks Act, 1999.
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The update of court judgments is compiled by Bhasin & Co, Advocates, a corporate law firm based in New Delhi. The authors can be contacted at lbhasin@bhasinco.in or lbhasin@gmail.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.
