Glaxo wins battle for GSK trademark

NEW DELHI: British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has secured a crucial victory in a three-year court battle over its trademark rights with a Hyderabad company which used the same acronym.

The Delhi High Court in a decision on Wednesday favoured the global drug maker, decreeing a permanent injunction that would refrain the Indian company -- GSK Life Sciences Pvt Ltd -- from using the name, mark or logo 'GSK' in its trade.

According to the judgment by Justice Vibhu Bakhru on the matter, it is also liable to deliver all printed matter bearing the acronym ‘GSK’ — including stationery, labels and packaging boxes — to GlaxoSmithKline for destruction.

The Indian drug maker did not answer ET’s emailed queries on the judgment.

The high court's judgment comes three years after it first passed an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining the Indian 'GSK' from infringing on the trademark registered to the UK-headquartered firm.

GlaxoSmithKline approached the court in 2013, claiming that the Indian company's use of the acronym amounted to infringement of its statutory rights in the mark ‘GSK’ as per Section 29(5) of Trade Marks Act of 1999. GSK Life Sciences also allegedly used a logo that was “exactly similar” to the global drug maker's logo, the judgment reads.

The MNC filed a suit at the Delhi HC for permanent injunction restraining infringement of trademark, passing off and claiming damages, among other things. It had earlier also filed a complaint under the Companies Act (1956) to declare the Hyderabad ‘GSK’ as defunct -- a complaint that is stated to be pending, according to the high court's judgment.

While the court has granted a decree in terms of most of GlaxoSmithKline's prayers, it has rejected its plea for compensation as damages.