MADRAS HIGH COURT REJECTS THE PLEA AGAINST ACTOR VIJAY ON COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
On August 18th the High Court of Madras dismissed a petition filed by a person against actor Vijay on infringing trademark and copyright. The case is filed for restraining the party formed by Vijay in using the flag.
BACKGROUND CASE
The case is related to a petition filed by ‘Thondai Mandala Saandror Dharma Paribalana Saba’ a Chennai based welfare trust alleging that the Actor Vijay’s party named Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) copied their flag’s design and there occurred infringement of copyright. They contended that the flag was deceptively similar to the trust’s trademark which is registered under Trade Marks Act. They filed an interim petition for restraining the party from using the flag and to order a payment of Rs 5 lakh as damages for copyright and trademark infringement. As per the arguments of the petitioner trust they have been using the above particular flag from the year 2023 and they have used the flag on different occasions. The design of the flag was registered under class 45 of the Trade Marks Act.
ARGUMENTS OF THE PARTIES
The petitioner trust is of the argument that the TVK party used their flag unethically without their permission and by that way they infringed the copyright. They were already on the point that their design of the flag was already registered under the Trade Mark’s Act. They have been using it for almost 2 years, Only after that the TVK Party Launched and they used the flag. They argued that due to this the people will be misled that the both will be the same. The petitioner pointed out that the TVK party intentionally used their flag to take the advantage of the reputation and good will of the trust. The counsel for the TVK Party defended that the party has not used anyone’s flag design. The flag of the Party is unique and it has totally different designs that include the vaagai flower, elephant etc. that of the trust’s flag. Also they are of the point that the flag was not used for any commercial interests, it is only for political identification.
OPINION OF THE COURT
Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy of the Madras High Court heard the matter and rejected the interim claim by the Thondai Mandala Saandror Dharma Paribalana Saba in restraining the TVK party in using the flag. As per the view of the court, there is no resemblance between these two flags. There are limited colours and according to that someone makes a design, that doesn’t mean there is an infringement. Both flags are in different designs. So there is no chance of infringement of Copyright and Trademark. Also the court noted that there is no strong prima facie evidence from the petitioner’s side.
CONCLUSION
In this case the court rejected the interim petition filed by the petitioner trust in restraining the TVK party from using their flag which alleged that there is a resemblance of the trust flag.
The court points that as there is absence of strong prima facie evidence regarding this and there is no chance of infringement of copyright and trademark. For the claiming the infringement of Copyright and Trademark there must be present a strong prima facie evidence. The case posted to another day for further hearing.
AUTHOR DETAILS:
Aswathy S Menon, a law graduate from Mar Gregorios College of Law, Thiruvananthapuram, and Practicing as a lawyer at High Court of Kerala with over two years of experience in litigation, compliance, and legal research. She has contributed to legal content writing and worked on civil, criminal, and corporate matters, with particular interests in corporate governance, contract law, and dispute resolution.