In what can be seen as a move to tighten the trademark and copyright laws in the auto component industry, the Delhi High Court last week directed Delhi-based componentmaker Prius Auto Industries to refrain from using brand name Toyota Motors of Japan on its spare parts.
Toyota Motors had moved the court against the component maker, which supplies to Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai Motors and General Motors, alleging that key components manufactured by the vendor bore the Toyota font with names like Innova and Prius on its products.
?The appellate bench of the Delhi High Court has ordered Prius Auto Industries to immediately discontinue the use of the Toyota font and names of Toyota brands on its supply parts,? one of the lawyers representing Toyota Motors said. According to the directions of the High Court, Prius Auto Industries would have to state that the ?vehicle and marks used for item identification only? in a conspicuous and a consistent font for their product packaging.
The auto component maker was duly directed not to write ?genuine accessories? on its products without it being accompanied by ?of Prius Auto Industries.? The court also restrained Prius Auto Industries from using the Toyota logo and ordered maintenance of accounts for sales of products under the trademark Prius with the court every six months. Corporate law firm Anand & Anand represented Toyota in the matter.
When contacted, Sandeep Verma, who is a director in Prius Auto Industries, said, ?We have been producing auto parts since 1997 and never have such issues arisen. The names on the products were merely to identify them with the cars,? he said.
