Trade Marks Disputes Involving Pharma Brands in India

Preface

In Pharma Industry it is a general practice to name drugs either by its principal component or the ailment for which it is related to. The chemical names and the generic names cannot per se be registered as Trademark as they are refused under section 13 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 but the Pharma Industry have adopted a way out by coining words which contain a part of the chemical name. This serves the purpose of identifying the drug. But the same has also given rise to Trade Mark infringement cases filed by drug companies on the ground that the product of its competitor which employs a part of the chemical name in its trade name, is deceptively similar to its own trade name. This made us to analyze Trade Marks disputes involving pharma brands. Our objective was to ascertain how impartial is the Judiciary in adjudicating TM disputes involving pharma brands. Yet another objective was to understand the efficiency of the Indian judicial system in adjudicating TM disputes. This