Pune Court rejects Cutis Biotech’s plea against Serum Institute for usage of trademark “COVISHIELD”

A civil court in Pune has rejected an injunction application filed on behalf of pharmaceutical company Cutis Biotech against Serum Institute of India, seeking Serum Institute to restrain from using the trademark ‘Covishield’ for its Covid-19 vaccine.

Cutis-Biotech, a pharmaceutical products manufacturer and seller based in Maharashtra, had filed a suit in the civil court seeking to restrain SII from using the trademark ‘Covishield’ or any other similar names for its Covid-19 vaccine, claiming that the pharma company is a prior user of the brand name. After this, Pune based Serum Institute replied by saying that since both the companies operate in different product categories and there is no scope for confusion over the trademark. Justice A.V. Rote of Pune Civil Court rejected the application which had sought a perpetual injunction against Serum Institute of India for purposes of restraining it from using the trademark ‘Covishield’ or any other mark which is confusingly similar to the trademark Covishield in respect of the goods which are same/similar/dissimilar with the goods of the plaintiff. In addition to this, the court also observed that the court also observed that the Plaintiff Cutis Biotech has not approached the court with clean hands and had suppressed material facts. Following this, the Plaintiff firm  through its advocates had also stated that the firm would be preferring an appeal in higher appellate courts, following the order of Pune Civil Court.

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