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The Delhi High Court in M/S Bharat Biotech International Ltd. v. Optival Health Solutions Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. Held that ‘TCV’ i.e. Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine, a vaccine for typhoid cannot be registered as a trademark because it is merely an abbreviation. The court also asserted that ‘ZYVAC-TCV’ is not deceptively similar to ‘TYPBAR-TCV’.
The plaintiff was registered owner of the trademark ‘TCV’ and ‘TYPBAR-TCV’ under Trade Marks Act, 1999 in 2012 and was making a vaccine for typhoid treatment. They said ‘TCV’ is also registered as a trademark in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The defendant was on the other hand was a manufacturer of typhoid vaccine ‘ZYVAC-TCV’. The plaintiff in 2018 learned through various sources that the defendant is also trying to make the vaccine of which composition is identical to that of the plaintiff’s. The suit was filed by the plaintiff for a permanent injunction against the defendant for infringing trademarks, passing off, etc.
The plaintiff was apprehensive of misrepresentation by consumers giving them the assumption that the defendant’s product has an association with the plaintiff’s. The defendant was of the view that they are not infringing the rights of the plaintiff as ‘ZYVAC-TCV’ is completely different from the plaintiff’s mark and is a combination of the words ‘Zydus’ and ‘Vaccine’.
The court asserted that the packaging of the petitioner’s vaccine is dark blue in color whereas that of defendant’s is light blue in color. The words ‘TCV’ in the plaintiff’s packaging is written in orange, on the other hand, green in color in the case of the defendant’s. The court further held, that in the case of the plaintiff’s packaging it is mentioned ‘Typhoid Vi Capsular Polysaccharide Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine’ whereas in case of defendant’s it is written ‘Typhoid Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine’. This highlights that the nature of the product is a vaccine and a consumer can easily find out what ‘TCV’ stands for. Therefore, TCV being an abbreviation cannot be registered as a trademark, and further, mark ‘ZYVAC-TCV’ is not deceptively similar to ‘TYPBAR-TCV’.
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