KVIC seeks damages from Fab India over Khadi 'trademark'

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Feb 6, 2018

​The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is seeking 525 crore rupees in damages from the ethnic wear clothing brand Fab India for allegedly illegally using its trademark 'Charkha' and using the 'Khadi' tag.

KVIC has sent a legal notice to Fab India threatening to launch legal proceedings against them unless they stop using a trademark for Khadi clothing items that KVIC feels is too close to their own.

The notice instructed Fab India "to cease and desist immediately and forthwith from displaying charkha or using selling products bearing the charkha or khadi mark or any similar mark on goods and use/ sell products bearing the word/ mark khadi or any similar mark whatsoever or howsoever related to khadi."

The notice also asked for an "unconditional apology".

Along with accusing Fab India of infringing on their trademark, KVIC’s notice goes further and says that: "The products offered under the impugned mark KHADI and the khadi mark tag were not even genuine khadi garments. You [Fab India] were selling factory-made cotton garments as khadi, whereas khadi is handspun and handwoven, and thereby misleading the consumers."

This statement needs to be legally verified but KVIC claims that, because of this, Fab India has harmed their reputation by misrepresenting Khadi.

The legal notice was sent by KVIC, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, on January 29 and demanded a response within seven days to avoid a court case.

Fab India have responded to KVIC’s claims and said in an official statement: "We are in receipt of the notice from lawyers instructed by KVIC, and are surprised at its contents. We have made it clear to the KVIC through extensive correspondence and in multiple meetings over the last two years that Fab India is not in violation of any of the provisions of the KVIC Act or regulations framed thereunder.”

The statement went on to say: "The claims made in the notice are baseless. The notice has been entrusted to our lawyers, and any action taken in pursuance of the notice will be defended by us vigorously."

As both parties remain adamant of their position, this case may well go to court. Khadi, a hand woven traditional Indian textile, has been at the heart of the government’s 'Make in India' campaign and has been widely promoted for the last year.

Many designers are currently championing the textile and so the outcome of this case, both in terms of whether or not Fab India is selling real Khadi or not and KVIC’s right to copyright things relating to it, will be a benchmark moving forward.