Tata Sons today announced another victory in its war against parties infringing and misusing the 'Tata' brand name to mislead customers. 

In a suit filed by Tata Sons Ltd, in its capacity as the owner of the Tata trademark, against National Marketing Company, which was marketing steel-cutlery products by fraudulently using the Tata brand, Justice 
C. K. Mahajan of the Delhi High Court appointed local commissioners to raid the defendants' premises, where the infringing goods were available, and to take them into custody. The local commissioners successfully raided six locations in Delhi on Saturday, November 9, 2002, and found about 3,000 boxes of the cutlery from those locations.

F. N. Subedar, Senior Vice-President (Finance) and Company Secretary, Tata Sons, said, "The Tata brand represents a high degree of quality and trust, which are the result of painstaking efforts put in by the generations of successors to our founders. To have this brand equity eroded by people trying to supply spurious and sub-standard goods under the Tata brand name is a travesty. Considering the diverse products and services in which Tata companies are engaged, we owe it to the consumers to be continuously vigilant, and ensure that the trust in the Tata Brand is not allowed to be eroded by a counterfeiter."

The local commissioners will submit their reports to the Court and, based on the same, it will pass appropriate orders. According to Mr Subedar, "While this is a significant achievement for us in our drive against misuse of the TATA brand, we realise that it is a continuous journey of being vigilant and taking action to stamp out such instances. We are committed to working together with the legal system in order to bring to book all offenders who are out to cheat gullible customers through the misuse of the Tata brand."

In the past, Tata Sons has successfully taken legal action against the misuse of the Tata trademark. In one case, Tata Sons Ltd had filed arbitration proceedings under the forum of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) against an Indian registrant, Ramada Soft, which had registered 10 domain names, namely jrdtata.com, ratantata.com, tatahoneywell.com, tatayodogawa.com, tatateleservices.com, tatassl.com, tatapowerco.com, tatahydro.com, tatawestside.com, tatatimken.com, containing the mark Tata, under the UDRP policy. 

A decision was delivered in favour of Tata Sons, restraining the unauthorised registrant through a permanent injunction from using the said domain names or using any mark which uses Tata or any other identical or deceptively similar mark. The permanent injunction was granted on March 9, 2001. The 'well-known mark' status given to the Tata mark was a highlight of this international decision.

In another case, a lottery scheme was being run misusing the Tata name in the name and style of 'Bhutan Tata Super Lottery'. In a suit filed against the Chennai-based lottery agents for the Royal Government of Bhutan, a decree was passed in favour of Tata Sons granting permanent injunction against the defendants. The Royal Government of Bhutan has communicated in writing that it will not use the mark Tata for its lotteries hereinafter. This is the first assurance of its kind from the government of a country.

In yet another case, Tata Sons obtained an ex-parte injunction from the Delhi High Court in a suit filed against one H. P. Singhal of Delhi, who was duping gullible employment seekers by offering jobs in a company called 'Tata India Limited', with its address in Delhi. The judge passed an order in the nature of a 'Mareva Injunction', freezing the defendants' assets, including bank accounts. This is an order that is passed in the rarest of rare circumstances.

Tata Sons, in its capacity as the owner of the Tata trademark, would like to state that no Tata company manufactures, sells or distributes cutlery, and would like to caution the public against such unauthorised manufacturers and sellers.