Application in Pune court against trade mark of “Covishield”

An application was filed in a commercial court in Pune on Tuesday against the Serum Institute of India (SII) by a Nanded-based company against the vaccine provider’s claim over the term “Covishield”. When approached, the SII public relations agency declined to offer comments.

An application was filed in a commercial court in Pune on Tuesday against the Serum Institute of India (SII) by a Nanded-based company against the vaccine provider’s claim over the term “Covishield”.

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When approached, the SII public relations agency declined to offer comments.

“The court has issued a notice to Serum Institute after our application today. Our client had applied for the trademark registration three days before Serum and had been using it for various products since then,” said advocate Aditya Soni.

Soni is representing the applicant company called Cutis Biotech which is located in Nanded. The application was first made in a court in Nanded which directed it to be registered in Pune due to jurisdiction issue.

“On April 29, 2020, the plaintiff applied for the registration of its trademark Covishield in respect of ‘veterinary, ayurvedic, allopathic, medicinal and pharmaceutical preparations and vitamins and dietary food supplements for humans and animals’ in class 5. The plaintiff took a trademark search on the website of the trademark registry and was shocked to find that the defendant has also made an application on June 6, 2020,” read the application by the company.

The vaccine-manufacturer will be given time until the next hearing to respond to the application.

Meanwhile, SII’s Covishield received approval for restricted use in an emergency situation as a vaccine for the Covid-19 infection.