Case Study: ITC Ltd V Philip Morris Products SA & Ors. 2010(42) PTC 572 (Del)

Rakshitha P, CMR University School of Legal Studies

INTRODUCTION

Trademark law aims at providing legal protection against the fake and fraudulent products. It aims to protect consumers from any likelihood of confusion which may arise due to deceptively similar marks and protect the trader’s reputation in order to assist him in marketing his goods. A trademark includes any word, name, symbol, configuration, device, and shape of goods, packing, combination of colours or any combination thereof which one adopts and uses to identify and distinguish his goods from those of others. Trademark serves to be a sign of reliable source and quality and also aids consumers in identification of the products they prefer from a wide range of other similar products.

The trademark law is not intended to protect a person who deliberately sets out to take benefit of somebody else’s reputation with reference to goods, especially so when the reputation extends worldwide. The trademark law primarily serves two important purposes: it protects the public from confusion and deception by identifying the source or origin of particular products as distinguished from other similar products and it protects the trademark owner’s trade and business as well as the goodwill which is attached to his trademark.