Sun Pharma wins trademark case against Navi Mumbai company

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has prohibited a Navi Mumbai-based drugmaker from using the brand names 'Absun' and 'Absun Pharma', ruling in favour of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in a trademark infringement dispute that has lasted over a decade. The court said the names 'Absun' and 'Absun Pharma' are deceptively similar to Sun Pharma's long-standing "Sun" and "Sun Pharma" marks.

Dilip Sanghvi-promoted Sun Pharmaceutical had brought the complaint against Abson Pharma to the high court in 2013, saying that the defendant company's marks are "visually, structurally and phonetically similar" to its registered trademarks "Sun" and "Sun Pharma".

In his order dated April 22, Justice Manish Pitale said, "Only the alphabets AB have been prefixed to the registered trademarks of the plaintiff (Sun Pharma). This court is of the opinion that by merely prefixing the alphabets AB, it cannot be said that the marks of defendant (Absun) are distinct." Justice Pitale said "as a matter of fact, this court finds that the impugned marks being used by defendant are close to registered trademarks/house marks of the plaintiff". Court said a comparison of 2 marks shows defendant is using the trade name "Absun" and "Absun Pharma", wherein registered trade names of plaintiff "Sun"/"Sun Pharma" are subsumed.


Counsel Hiren Kamod and Nishad Nadkarni of Khaitan & Co appeared for Sun and argued the company has held registration of its trade mark "Sun" since 1983 in class 5 for medicinal and pharmaceutical preparations, with a user claim dating back to 1978. The pharma company had argued that since the products of the plaintiff and the defendant concern medicinal and pharmaceutical preparations, a stricter approach is required to be adopted while applying the test to consider the possibility of confusion, and the test keeps in mind an ordinary person of average intelligence and imperfect recollection.