HC bars Alder Biochem from using "Biochem" name on Zydus Life arm's plea
This story was originally published at 20:05 IST on 14 November 2024
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NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court has temporarily restrained Alder Biochem Pvt. Ltd. from selling, advertising, promoting or using the trade name "Alder Biochem" and any other trade name that contains "Biochem", which was a registered trademark of Zydus Healthcare Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Zydus Lifesciences Ltd. The high court also restrained Alder Biochem from using the domain name www.alderbiochem.com or any other domain name that contains any mark identical to "Biochem".
The high court said sales of Zydus Healthcare products under the mark "BIOCHEM" were more than INR 2 billion in 2022. In contrast, Alder Biochem's sales of products under their mark "Alder Biochem" were to the tune of INR 2.1 million in 2022-23 and INR 3.8 million in 2023-24, said the court.
The court said the law was settled that confusion between medical products was life-threatening, not merely inconvenient. "Further, the damage to a parties' reputation and goodwill as a result of acts of infringement and passing off, cannot be compensated in cases relating to pharmaceuticals, by damages alone," said the court.
The trademark injunction suit by Zydus Healthcare relates to Alder Biochem's adoption of the identical and deceptively similar mark "Alder Biochem" and trade name "Alder Biochem Pvt. Ltd." in relation to pharmaceutical goods, which amounted to infringement of the petitioner's registered trademark "Biochem".
In 2022 and 2023, Zydus Healthcare's representatives in Delhi came across applications filed by Alder Biochem for registration of "Alder Biochem" mark, claiming its use since 2019. Zydus Healthcare opposed Alder Biochem's trademark application and the proceedings are currently pending in the trade marks registry.
On Thursday, shares of Zydus Lifesciences ended 0.7% lower at INR 957.40 on the National Stock Exchange. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Ashish Shirke
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