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Informist, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Observing that there cannot be any monopoly by any party on use of letters from the English language under the trademark and copyright law, the Delhi High Court has rejected Alkem Laboratories Ltd.'s plea seeking to restrain Prevego Healthcare and Research Pvt. Ltd. from using 'A TO Z' and 'A TO Z-NS' marks, till the main suit is decided. Alkem Laboratories cannot be allowed to monopolise the use of the letters 'A' and 'Z' by seeking exclusivity over the right to use these letters, said the court.

 

There is no doubt that the dominant part of Alkem Laboratories' mark are the letters 'A' and 'Z', however, its marks must be seen as a whole and the letters 'A' and 'Z' cannot be dissected and seen independently for granting protection, said the court. It is trite law that device marks, by their nature, protect the specific visual representation of the mark, said the court. They do not grant broad protection over the underlying words or letters in isolation, especially when used in different stylisations or contexts, the court added.

 

While 'A' and 'Z' are common in the petitioner and respondent's mark, the addition of 'Multivein' significantly changes the overall sound and rhythm of Prevego Healthcare's mark, said the court. The colour scheme of Prevego Healthcare's mark is also different from the colour scheme of Alkem Laboratories' marks and hence both are not similar, the court said.

 

"Copyright Act entitles the proprietor of an artistic work to protection of its artistic work, however, it does entitle the plaintiff to monopolize the use of the letters 'A' and 'Z' in any manner whatsoever," said the court. A holistic comparison of both the marks shows that Prevego Healthcare's mark is not infringing the copyright protection obtained by Alkem Laboratories, said the court.

 

The case has its genesis from Prevego Healthcare using the mark 'Multivein AZ' for sale of pharmaceutical tablets. Alkem Laboratories said that it had adopted 'A TO Z' and 'A TO Z-NS' marks in the year 1998 and 2008, respectively, for its products. Its marks are coined and associated with the Alkem Laboratories' products alone by the public, said the petitioner. The petitioner said that its logo is a unique designed logo wherein letters A and Z are written in a stylised manner. The word 'TO' is written in a different colour in a stylised manner, said the petitioner.

 

In December 2024, Alkem Laboratories came across Prevego Healthcare's product bearing the given mark. Upon a perusal of Prevego Healthcare's product, Alkem Laboratories found out that the former was using the given mark for products identical to the petitioner's products of health supplements. Prevego Healthcare's mark is conceptually, phonetically, deceptively, structurally and confusingly similar to the plaintiff's marks, said Alkem Laboratories. Consequently, Alkem Laboratories filed a permanent injunction suit in the high court seeking to restrain Prevego Healthcare from using the 'A TO Z' and 'A TO Z-NS' marks.

 

At 1136 IST, the shares of Alkem Laboratories Ltd. were trading up 0.1% at INR 5,754.00 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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