ABBOTT PRODUCTS OPERATIONS AG THROUGH TEJAL MUNDKAR vs MENSCHLICH HEALTHCARE (OPC) PRIVATE LIMITED

Judgment text excerpt

Digitally signed by MEERA MEERA MAHESH 5-IAL-14697-2025 MAHESH JADHAV JADHAV Date: 2026.06.17 11:10:07 +0530 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION INTERIM APPLICATION (L) NO. 14697 OF 2025 IN COMMERCIAL MISCELLANEOUS PETITION (L) NO. 12147 OF 2025 Abbott Product Operations AG ​ ​ ​... Petitioner Versus Menschlich Healthcare (OPC) Private Limited & Anr.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ … Respondents _______ Mr. Hiren Kamod a/w Ms. Rupa Shaw i/b. Mr. Atishay Jain for the Petitioner. Mr. Chander M. Negi - in Person for the Respondent. _______ CORAM ​ : ARIF S. DOCTOR, J. RESERVED ON : 27th MARCH 2026 PRONOUNCED ON : 15th JUNE 2026 JUDGMENT: 1.​ The Captioned Miscellaneous Petition has been filed under the provisions of Sections 47 and 57 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, (“the Act”) and seeks rectification/cancellation/removal of the trade mark DUPHACHRIT (“the impugned mark”) from the Register of Trade Marks. Registration of the 1 Meera Jadhav 5-IAL-14697-2025 impugned mark was obtained by Respondent No. 1 in Class 5 on 1st July 2021 (“the impugned registration”). A Brief Background: 2.​ It is the Petitioner’s case that in the year 1949, the Petitioner’s predecessors-in-title, i.e., Dutch Pharmaceuticals, coined and adopted the word ‘DUPHAR’, which was an acronym for DUTCH Pharmaceuticals, i.e., ‘DU’ from ‘Dutch’ and ‘PHAR’ from ‘Pharmaceuticals’. The Petition also sets out that Dutch Pharmaceuticals and the DUPHA marks were successively adopted and owned by various entities and were finally acquired by the Petitioner from Solvay Pharmaceuticals in 2010. 3.​ During the course of its business, the Petitioner has adopted various trade marks containing ‘DUPHA’ as an integral part thereof, including but not limited to DUPHASTON, DUPHALAC, DUPHABEARS, DUPHALAC FIBER, D