Birla Corporation is contesting UltraTech Cement’s claim on copyright infringement over the use of the word ‘Ultra’ in its products. Its argument is based on the grounds that it is neither a violation of any copyright, nor does UltraTech have exclusive rights over the word under dispute.
Sources aware of the development told Business Standard that according to the Trade Marks Act, 1999, copyrighted words have to be used in the complete context and not in isolation.
Thus, while the word ‘ultra’, even if copyrighted by UltraTech, can be used by this company freely for its products and branding, like UltraTech Concrete, UltraTech Ready Mix, UltraCem and others; the same word can also be used by Birla Corporation for its products as well like MP Birla Cement Ultimate Ultra and others.
The word in question, sources argued, is a composite trademark where the protection of the name is provided to the entire word and not in part of a trademarked word.
Birla Corporation, sources said, is basing its case on this premise that usage of the word ‘ultra’ is not limited exclusively to UltraTech.
Legal experts pointed out that according to the Trade Marks Act, if a trademark is registered as a series and consist of more than one feature, and if the applicant claims exclusive rights over all of the features separately, then the company has to seek registration for each of the parts separately and thus each of the words will have to be trademarked separately.
Asked about the same, a Birla Corporation spokesperson said, “Since the matter is sub judice, Birla Corporation would not like to make any detailed statement on the dispute. However, the company is confident of defending its trademark MP Birla Cement Ultimate Ultra against any legal challenge.”
In August this year, UltraTech had moved the Bombay High Court complaining of the copyright infringement and alleged that Birla Corporation has been wrongfully infringing on its rights from July this year after launching the ‘MP Birla Cement Ultimate Ultra’ and ‘MP Birla Cement Ultimate Ultra 2’.
Against UltraTech’s claim, a Birla Corporation spokesperson said, “MP Birla Cement Ultimate Ultra is a super-premium brand of cement, which is being sold by Birla Corporation in multiple markets since early 2018. It was wrongfully alleged that Birla Corporation had started to use the trademark only in July 2019.”
An UltraTech spokesperson was not available for comments.
After the acquisition of Reliance Cement, the MP Birla Group’s flagship company has been heavily investing on reshaping its product category and come up with strong national brands which is led by the ‘MP Birla Cement Perfect’ brand of cement.
Moreover, it’s argument is also based on the fact that the word ‘ultra’ is within the scope of its own copyright wherein it has secured the rights on the words ‘MP Birla Cement Ultimate Ultra’ and ‘MP Birla Cement Ultimate Ultra 2’ which is understood in totality and not in isolation.
Sources cited a similar instance in 2016 when UltraTech had filed similar petition with the Bombay High Court against Dalmia Cement over the usage of the word ‘ultra’ in the latter’s products. The court, then had ruled that the word in dispute, has to be understood in combination and wholly and not in isolation.
Birla Corporation’s premiumisation drive and focus on higher sales of blended cement helped the company post a steep 450 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs. 88 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2019 while revenue shot up by 10.9 per cent at Rs 1,647 crore.
The same during the similar quarter of the last fiscal year stood at Rs 16 crore and Rs 1,485 crore respectively.
A company official said that the tax had already been paid by the company before the union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman announced tax benefits and thus the company’s results doesn’t reflect tax benefits.
The company’s cash profit for the September quarter more than doubled to Rs. 229 crore from Rs. 112 crore in the same period last year, while EBITDA grew 61 per cent to Rs 332 crore. The EBITDA margin also jumped from 13.9 per cent to 20.15 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
Despite an extended monsoon and depressed demand, its sales volume during the quarter rose by 4.1 per cent to 3.2 million tonnes.
Premium cement accounted for 41 per cent of sales through the trade channel, compared to 37 per cent in the same period last year. The share of blended cement in total sales was scaled up to 93 per cent from 87 per cent in the September quarter last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment