Madras High Court Upholds KMF’s Opposition to ‘Nandini’ Trademark for Agarbattis

The Madras High Court held that the proposed “Nandini” trademark for agarbattis was deceptively similar to Karnataka Milk Federation’s long-standing “NANDINI” mark for milk and dairy products and was likely to mislead consumers.

The ruling arose from an appeal against a Trade Marks Registry order that had rejected KMF’s opposition to registration of the mark in Class 3.

The Court noted KMF’s continuous use of “NANDINI” since 1983 and found phonetic identity and an identical style of writing, with no prefix or suffix to distinguish the rival mark.

Distinguishing Nandhini Deluxe, it set aside the Registry’s order and allowed KMF’s appeal under the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

[Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd. v. Vinod Kanji, Shah & Nitin]