New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (April 30) issued notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India and sought its response on a plea by renowned children’s magazine Champak alleging trademark infringement over the naming of Indian Premier League (IPL)’s AI robot dog ‘Champak’.
Delhi Press Patra Prakashan Pvt Ltd, which has been publishing Champak magazine since 1968, has filed the plea before the High Court.
High Court asked BCCI to file its written response within four weeks
Justice Saurabh Banerjee, while hearing the matter, observed that Champak had been an existing brand name since eternity.
The court issued notice to the BCCI and asked the BCCI to file its written response within four weeks.
What did the magazine submit?
Advocate Amit Gupta, who appeared for the Delhi Press Patra Prakashan Pvt Ltd, argued before the High Court that Champak was a well known mark and the BCCI has infringed the registered trademark of the magazine by naming the robotic dog ‘Champak’ and it also amounted to commercial exploitation.
When asked by the court to show how the averment of infringement is made out and what kind of commercial element is involved, the counsel representing the magazine said that IPL is a commercial venture and using the word on various platforms for advertising, marketing and earning would amount to commercial use.
What did the BCCI submit?
Senior advocate J Sai Deepak, who appeared for BCCI, opposed the plea and argued that Champak was the name of a flower and it is associated with a character of a TV series and not the magazine alone. The counsel further submitted that the claim of the magazine the the word Champak exclusively belonged to them need to be tested at the trial.
Justice Banerjee orally said during the hearing that the nickname of cricketer Virat Kohli is ‘Chiku’ and it is also one of the characters in Champak magazine and asked why did the petitioner not proceed against him.
The matter would be further heard on July 9.
