BigBasket faces trademark infringement suit for using the brand ‘Royal’
June 18, 2018The online food and grocery retailer, BigBasket is facing court proceedings for infringing ‘Royal’ trademark owned by Tea maker Girnar Food and Beverages in the Bombay High Court. It is alleged that the Alibaba-backed e-grocer BigBasket has been selling several products under the brand name – ‘Royal’, including grains, spices, honey, sugar and tea – which is a flagship brand of Girnar Food and Beverage.
The Tea Maker is said to be selling many variants of its tea under the brand ‘Royal’, however has registered Royal Cup Tea as its flagship brand. Girnar Foods had approached the court on 7 March, 2018 for raising an objection to BigBasket selling tea under the Royal brand and the matter is scheduled to be heard today, i.e. 18 June, 2018.
There have been many such cases in the past where conflicts over trademark infringements have been turning out to be a common ground between Start-Ups and Traditional companies. Lately, a popular footwear brand Metro Shoes had filed a suit for trademark infringement against Flipkart for using Metronaut. In December 2017, a Bangalore based online market space was dragged to the court by the US based footwear brand Sketchers for allegedly selling its counterfeit products.