NE BUSINESS BUREAU
ANAND, JULY 13
The Federal Court of Canada has permanently restrained four persons from infringing the trademarks and copyright of Amul and Amul- The Taste of India days after the cooperative giant moved the court against a “fraud” entity Amul Canada. Simultaneously, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board recognised Amul’s status as a well-known trade mark in the country, says a senior official of the company.
Disclosing the information, an official statement from the Rs 40,000 crore milk cooperative stated that it had learnt in January last year “about a group of fraudsters in Canada having blatantly copied the trade mark AMUL and the logo of Amul – Taste of India, and created a fake profile on LinkedIn platform which amounts to trade mark and copyright infringement.”
Following this, Amul immediately moved the Federal Court of Canada against Amul Canada and its self-styled promoters, Mohit Rana, Akash Ghosh, Chandu Das, and Patel “who created this deceptive profile on LinkedIn. Despite several attempts of service of the suit on the defendants, the defendants never responded.”
Finally, in an ex parte judgment, the court also awarded damages of $10,000 for actions contrary to the Trademarks Act, $5,000 for actions contrary to the Copyright Act and awarded costs of $17,733, payable by the Defendants.
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation’s Managing Director RS Sodhi said the court victory “was possible only because we were alert and provided the supporting documents substantiating our claims.” He said GCMMF, which markets Amul products and those of other cooperatives, was exporting milk products to USA for 22 years and started exporting Amul Kool, ice cream and dairy snacks to Canada two years ago.
We are glad that Canada recognised our very own, The Taste of India!
Amul is the eighth largest milk processor in the world handling 10.3 million metric tonne milk a year.
Counsel for Amul in India for the case is Suhrita Majumdar, IP Lawyer, S Majumdar & Co., New Delhi and Counsel for Amul in Canada Michael Adams, IP Lawyer, Riches McKenzie & Herbert LLP.
