The story and fate of Khadi trademark

It is nothing new for us as we have had similar past experiences and spent a few crores of exchequer's money to defend against biopiracy and intellectual property theft. Patenting of Turmeric and Neem, trademarking of Basmati in the past do not fade away easily. History now repeats itself and this time it is the Khadi trademark which is under dispute. The German company, named Khadi Natureprodukte GbR, has registered 'Khadi' as a trademark with the European agency, OHIM (Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market). Spain-based OHIM is the nodal agency looking after Trademarks and Design Registration in the European Union. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), a statutory body engaged in promoting and developing khadi and village...

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