Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has directed the Trade Mark Registry to cancel four ?Lowenbrau? marks, including label and word marks, on a plea by German liquor company Lowenbrau Buttenheim, relating to beer products in India.
The order was pronounced in a case between Lowenbrau Buttenheim and another German company, Lowenbrau Munchen (Lowenbrau) on the dispute over use of Lowenbrau beer brands in India.
Lowenbrau, Germany (respondent) had filed a civil suit against Lowenbrau Buttenheim (applicant) for permanent injunction on the use of Lowenbrau marks by applicant, and the matter came up before IPAB in response to that. Though Lowenbrau Buttenheim is the registered owner of the marks in Germany, Lowenbrau, Germany had obtained the registration for the use of marks in India. The trade mark Lowenbrau with the device of lion in a label mark had been registered in India since 1960.
The IPAB bench comprising S Usha, vice-chairman, and V Ravi, technical member, said, ?We are of the view that though the respondents have obtained registrations as early as 1962, they have not used it in trade.? The respondents are only preventing others from using which is not a good practice.? We therefore think it fit to cancel the trade mark from the register.?
The applicant company is a German company established in 1980 by Modschiedler family. They adopted the trade mark Lowenbrau. The family is the famous German brewer popular for their product.? ?
The generation of family members branched out and derived their own label for the product beer.