HC notice to Systopic for trademark infringement

The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to Systopic Laboratories on a suit filed by Ranbaxy Laboratories in a trademark infringement case.

While refusing to pass an ex parte restraint order on the manufacturing of allegedly phonetically similar medicine manufactured by Ranbaxy, Justice Vipin Sanghi gave three weeks time to Systopic to file its response.

The suit filed by Ranbaxy sought an injunction order from the court against the defendant (Systopic) for manufacturing and marketing any medicinal or pharmaceutical preparation bearing trademark 'Orvas' which, it claims, is phonetically and structurally similar to Ranbaxy's popular medicine 'Storvas'.

Ranbaxy's counsel H P Singh contended that the defendant's (Systopic) product 'Orvas' bears striking resemblance to its product Storvas, which has a similar pack design and same colour combination as that of Ranbaxy's.

Contending that Ranbaxy has exclusive right to use the trademark Storvas, the counsel said that Systopic is trying to encash upon the reputation and goodwill earned by Ranbaxy as the defendant's product 'Orvas' and plaintiff's product 'Storvas' have identical use in lipid orders/cardiovascular diseases.

The manufacturing and marketing of Orvas by Systopic is bound to create confusion and deception among the public that the product 'Orvas' is from Ranbaxy group and tarnish the pharma major's image.

The Ranbaxy counsel said the company had sent a notice to Systopic after it came to know that the latter was producing the medicine 'Orvas', but it refused to comply with the request to stop the production of the said medicine.