The Tea Board that
had fought and lost the case over the Darjeeling logo in the Calcutta High
Court (HC) early this year has recently appealed against the decision in the
division bench of the Court for a judicial interpretation to comprehend the
importance of the logo.
Arun Kumar Ray,
deputy chairman of the Tea Board of India, stated that firms such as ITC
providing Darjeeling tea in their lounges must use the renowned Darjeeling Tea
logo.
Speaking on the
interests of the AGM of the producers’ body TAI (Tea Association of India), Mr.
Ray said that they had a conflict with ITC over the use of the Darjeeling Tea
logo in the Darjeeling Lounge at the ITC Sonar. He added that they had
protected Darjeeling Tea with the specific logo worldwide. However, companies
like TWG and Goodricke are serving tea with their logo; they want cooperation
from others as well.
The deputy chairman
further said that the Board is also willing to talk with ITC for a peaceable
solution. Nevertheless, ITC hasn’t commented on the issue, and an ITC
spokesperson made a statement that they will not annotate on this issue as the
matter is sub-judice.
On 6th February
2019, the HC had refused a 9-year old request made by the Tea Board that
claimed ITC to be violating the Board’s rights over the term “Darjeeling”
protected under Geographical
Indication (GI) tag and certification-mark. At that time, the Tea
Board had appealed compensation of Rs. 50 crore as damages from ITC.
Justice Sahidullah
Munshi had suggested that the lawsuit by Tea Board was denied based on the
consideration that the hotel lounge was started in January 2003, but the suit
was filed in 2010 that’s beyond the limitation given under Section 26(4) of the
GI Act which is for five years. The Court also observed that infringement
rested under the Geographical Indications of Goods Act as the defendant’s
lounge doesn’t relate to goods.
The sector regulator
said that it isn’t keeping any stone unturned to protect the virtue of the GI
tag, and therefore, asked the corporate giants to ensure the integrity of the
logo as well as the tea.
As Mr. Ray opined,
ITC must use the logo of Darjeeling Tea that is a crucial part of the state’s
history and tradition. He ended by saying that as the word “Champagne” cannot
be used everywhere, the term “Darjeeling” cannot be allowed to use without the
trademarked logo related to it. ✅ For view source: https://bit.ly/33q4PYl
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