Source:http://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/civic/playschools-at-war-over-trademark/articleshow/60723989.cms
District Court has for now restrained the smaller player from using logo or teaching material of the chain
A chain has sued a smaller entity for using its registered trademark, logo and training material. On one side is Shanti Juniors pre-school — an Ahmedabadbased chain which has several playschools in the city — while on the other, there is EJuniors pre-school based out of Dhayari. Shanti Juniors has filed a suit in the district court.
The bone of contention is the tie up between the two, which eventually went sour and the franchisee partner started operations in the same space under a different name. Owners of Shanti Juniors, which also has branches in several other cities across India, have told the court that sometime in 2013 they got into an agreement with Vinit Parkar to start a franchise in Dhayari. Parkar paid them Rs 2.5 lakhs for it. They said that they "had developed a pre-primary training programme and curriculum for specialised training in the segment of Toddcare, nursery, junior and senior kindergarten under the brand name, Shanti Juniors". They also stated that Shanti Juniors is a registered trademark.
According to Shanti Juniors, Parkar had approached the chain in April 2016, saying he was no longer interested in continuing with the franchisee as it was not profitable, and that he wanted to start a new business. So, the agreement between the two was cancelled and it was decided that the Parkar would not use the Shanti Juniors logo and brand name.
However, earlier this year, the chain's management claimed they found that Parkar had started a school called E-Juniors Pre-School in the same premises using their trademark, and that Parkar was "trying to make illegal profit by making unlawful use of goodwill, reputation and methodology" of Shanti Juniors.
Owners of E-Juniors denied all the allegations, saying they were not using any material, name or logo of the Shanti Juniors. They also told the court that their teaching programme was very different from the giant's.
The court, however felt that there were similarities in the two. District judge Jayraj Wadne recently observed, "The advertisement displayed for E-Juniors pre-school are deceptively similar to the registered trademark of plaintiff (Shanti)." The court also took note of the photographs given by Shanti Juniors to establish that E-Juniors was using their material.
Shanti's management sought that the court should order a shutdown of E-Juniors. However, Judge Wadne, who was hearing the application for injunction, refused to allow that. The judge recently ordered that E-Juniors must stop using material, trademark and logo of Shanti Juniors till the suit is decided. The case is scheduled for hearing next on October 10.
