Delhi High Court bans more entities from using name 'Khadi' in KVIC case

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jun 7, 2021

The Delhi High Court has ruled in favour of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission and restrained beauty pageants and other business activities from using the brand name ‘Khadi’ until the next hearing.

KVIC had accused the ‘Khadi Design Council of India’ and the ‘Miss India Khadi Foundation’ of illegally using the brand name ‘Khadi’ and deceiving people, ET Bureau reported. The court ruled in an ex-parte order that the two names were “deceptively similar” to KVIC and thus were violations of the Khadi trademark. 
 
Until the date of the next hearing on the matter, the Khadi Design Council of India and Miss India Khadi Foundation have been ordered to take down all of their social media accounts on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube and to take down infringing content on their websites and e-commerce sites. KVIC had alleged that the defendants had wilfully misled people into believing that both entities were affiliated with KVIC when they are not. 

“The same demonstrates the serious bad faith on part of the defendants and their intention to mislead the consumers and ride on the plaintiff's goodwill,” KVIC alleged in court, the Press Trust of India reported. 
 
According to KVIC, the Khadi Design Council of India was charging Rs 2,000 ($27.49) to people in exchange for a ‘Khadi Certification’. The Miss India Khadi Foundation claimed to be affiliated with the KVIC Prime Minister's Employment Generation Program on its website which is not the case, according to KVIC.