Abstract

The tussle between Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF) and Nestlé India Limited (Nestlé) owing to the close resemblance of Trademarks stands as a classical testimony of the issues associated with Intellectual Property related disputes. On December 5, 2011 GCMMF, owner of the well-known trademark “Amul”, issued a legal notice to Nestlé for infringement and for passing- off its products with the trademark ‘a+’ which bore a close resemblance to ‘A+’, a trademark registered by GCMMF. Subsequently, GCMMF filed a petition before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) for rectification of trademark ‘a+’. Thereafter, Nestlé filed a suit against GCMMF in the Delhi High Court claiming ownership of trademark ‘a+’.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• To analyze the legal validity of the trademark assignment agreement between Ajit Singh Om Prakash Limited and Nestlé India Limited.
• To analyze the case in light of the essential elements of infringement and passing- off of trademarks.
• Whether ‘Amul A+’ and ‘Nestlé a+’ deceptively similar or confusingly similar?

Keywords

Amul,GCMMF,A+,Nestlé,a+,Dahi,A PLUS,ASOPL,Assignment,Passing- off,Infringement,Trademark,IPAB,Status quo