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Informist, Wednesday, May 14, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the Registrar of Trademarks to remove the entry for a Chinese company's Florasis trademark, which is similar to Mankind Pharma Ltd.'s Flora trademark. The adoption of the mark Florasis by Zhejiang Yige Enterprise Management Group Co., Ltd., by merely adding the suffix "sis" to the already registered trademark Flora, is not sufficient, the court ruled.

 

"Furthermore, in India, merely adding a Mandarin character cannot add any distinctiveness thereto for being granted registration, and that too qua a pharmaceutical product, especially when the said character cannot be deciphered by the general public and/or the members of trade," the court said. The registered trademark Flora of petitioner Mankind Pharma has been in existence in the Indian market for a long time whereas the Chinese company's mark was yet to be launched and has not seen the light of day, the court added.

 

Mankind Pharma was granted registration for its trademark Flora in India for pharmaceutical preparations for the treatment of diarrhoea and for related health products. According to the petitioner, the Chinese company, in 2019, had applied for the name Florasis at the trademark registry for sanitary towels, anti-overflow, breast pads, baby napkins, sanitary pads, and baby's diapers on a "proposed to be used" basis.

 

In 2020, the petitioner had opposed the Chinese company's trademark application at the registry, but the objection was rejected by the registrar. The combination of Mandarin characters with a unique device of Florasis gives the mark a unique impression, depiction, and recollection in the Indian context, the registrar had ruled, and allowed the Chinese company to proceed with registration.

 

On Wednesday, shares of Mankind Pharma closed 0.3% higher at INR 2,554.60 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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