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Informist, Monday, Jun. 1, 2026

 

--HC allows Intas Pharma to sell cancer drug in Sun Pharma arm trademark case

 

By Surya Tripathi

 

NEW DELHI – The division bench of the Delhi High Court has allowed Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to manufacture, sell and market Bevatas drug, rejecting objections from Sun Pharma Laboratories Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., in a trademark infringement case. The division bench of the court set aside its single judge order that said Intas Pharmaceuticals' Bevatas drug was similar in name to Sun Pharma Laboratories Ltd.'s Bevetex, a scheduled drug used for treatment of breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer. 

 

Sun Pharma Laboratories had vexatiously filed the petition against Intas Pharmaceuticals for actions of passing off, alleging unfair advantage, misappropriation of goodwill, misrepresentation, said the court. Sun Pharma Laboratories was aware, prior to the filing of its suit, that Intas Pharmaceuticals' drug was not a therapeutic substitute for the former's drug and therefore, there was no diversion of sales or any commercial loss to Sun Pharma, said the court. 

 

The division bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora and Justice V. Kameswar Rao said that Sun Pharma Laboratories' plea failed to disclose clear facts constituting its cause of action for claiming infringement and was therefore liable to be rejected at the threshold. Sun Pharma Laboratories at trial failed to establish, by any cogent oral or documentary evidence, any likelihood of confusion among the relevant class of public, including oncologists, chemists, trained nurses, patients and attendants, said the bench. The sales representative of Sun Pharma Laboratories was not a competent witness for proving likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, said the court.

 

The two drugs sold under the marks Bevatas and Bevetex, though broadly falling within the category of anti-cancer pharmaceutical preparations, are distinct and dissimilar in composition, therapeutic purpose, indication, dosage and mode of administration, and are admittedly not therapeutic substitutes of each other, said the court. The two drugs are therefore not identical goods or even closely similar goods, it said. 

 

The single judge bench, at the post-trial stage, erred in determining infringement and presumed likelihood of confusion on the part of the public solely on a bare structural and phonetic comparison of the rival marks undertaken by the court itself, said the division bench. In view of the distinction of the two drugs and their mode of administration, no presumption of likelihood of confusion was there, said the bench. However, the single judge failed to carry out an evidence-based assessment of Sun Pharma Laboratories' allegation of deceptive similarity and likelihood of confusion on part of the public, it said.

 

The suffix 'Bev' and 'Beva' are "publici juris" for anti-cancer drugs containing the molecule 'Bevacizumab', said the court. The rival marks, when compared as a whole, are neither visually, structurally nor phonetically similar, and thus Intas Pharmaceuticals' mark does not constitute infringement of Sun Pharma Laboratories' registered trademark, said the court. The suit instituted by Sun Pharma Laboratories was not in public interest and was pursued solely to protect its commercial interest in its mark 'Bevetex', said the court.

 

The case has its genesis in Sun Pharma Laboratories coming across the publication of the application for registration of Bevatas mark filed by Intas Pharmaceuticals on a proposed to be used basis. In 2017, Sun Pharma Laboratories came across Intas Pharmaceuticals' drug under Bevatas name being sold in Delhi.

 

Intas Pharmaceuticals has unlawfully adopted its trademark, Sun Pharma Laboratories said. Such adoption of a similar name also amounts to unfair trade practice, unfair competition and dilution, said Sun Pharma Laboratories. If the wrong drug is given to the cancer patient undergoing treatment, it could lead to disastrous consequences, and hence, it is in public interest that the use of Bevatas mark is restrained, said Sun Pharma Laboratories.

 

At 1113 IST, the shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. were up 0.1% at INR 1,801.00 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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