Background Facts:

M/s. Kennol Performance Oil filed a Complaint against M/s. Kennol Petroleum (Pvt.) Ltd., M/s. Japan Lube Petroleum and M/s. Oil Dewan Store, alleging that the Respondents engaged and are engaging in deceptive marketing practices by copying the trademark of the Complainant on its products. The Complainant claimed to have suffered significant damage to its reputation due to real brand usurpation, misrepresentation of logo and graphics.

Order:

The Commission noted that Section 10 (d) provides protection to trademarks of undertakings against fraudulent use by other undertakings, and tha tfraudulent use of another's trademark, firm name or product labelling or packaging constitutes deceptive marketing. The Commission stated that that pictorial comparison of alleged trademark of the Respondents and original trademark of the Complainant leads to the obvious conclusion that there exist similarities in terms of color, graphics, fonts and placement on the product packaging. Confusion between the two trademarks would be intensified in the context of visualizing the products of both the Complainant and the Respondent being placed in close proximity to one another in display shelves at retail outlets, supermarkets and other points of sale across the country, and that ordinary consumer, specifically the illiterate, would not be able to distinguish between the products' origin or brand names evident on the packaging.

The Commission also considered the Respondents' admission with regard to violation and their compliance-oriented approach. The Respondents extended their regrets for alleged activity and expressed inability to pay hefty amount of penalty given the size of their companies.

The Commission directed the Respondents to cease use of contentious trademark of the Complainant and gave six weeks to shut down their website and Facebook pages containing trademark of the Complainant or any other trademark which may be capable of creating resemblance with the complainant’s trademark and were directed to file a compliance report.

However, in case of non-compliance, the Respondent would be liable to pay a total penalty of Pakistani Rupees Two Million (PKR 2,000,000).