As of 01/07/2021
Khadi is inseparable from Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle that brought India her independence. Khadi was the symbol of a national movement that brought the mighty British on their knees. This symbol of non-violent protest has however ended in a legal tussle that reached WIPO.
The domain name in question was UrbanKhadiClub.com. The domain name was owned by a Delhi based company Om Soft Solutions. The complainant was Khadi and Village Industries Commission, India (KVIC), a statutory body.
The complainant owns the trademarks ‘Khadi‘ and ‘Khadu India‘. It complained that the disputed domain name violates its registered trademark of ‘Khadi‘. The respondent however also owns the trademark ‘Urban Khadi Club‘.
WIPO in its findings stated that the domain name was confusingly similar to complainant’s trademark, respondent had no legitimate interest in the disputed domain name and the domain name was registered in bad faith. With this ruling WIPO instated that ‘Khadi’ was not a generic term and cannot be used arbitrarily. KVIC in a twitter post shared the news and the judgement.
You can read more about the case here.
Join the Discussion