A civil court in India has rejected an injunction application filed on behalf of Cutish-Biotech against Serum Institute of India (SII), claiming Trademark ‘Covishield’ of the Covid-19 Vaccine.
Earlier this month, Cutis-Biotech, an Indian pharmaceutical products manufacturer, filed a suit in the civil court in Pune seeking to restrain SII from using the trademark ‘Covishield’ or any other similar names for its COVID-19 vaccine and claimed the firm is a prior user of the brand name.
Following this, Serum Institute of India filed its response in the civil court saying both companies operate in different product categories and there is no scope of confusion over the trademark, reports India Today.
Commenting on the development, lawyer Hitesh Jain said, "Judge A V Rote has rejected the application which had sought a perpetual injunction against Serum Institute of India for purposes of restraining it from using the trademark ‘Covishield’ or any other mark which is confusingly similar with the trademark Covishield in respect of the goods which are same/similar/dissimilar with the goods of the plaintiff."
While rejecting the application, the court has observed that Cutis-Biotech has not approached the court with clean hands and suppressed material facts.
Meanwhile, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla on Saturday said his company has applied to start the trials of another COVID-19 vaccine and that it hopes to launch it by June 2021.
The Pune-based firm has already produced the Covishield vaccine, co-developed by the University of Oxford and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca.
In a tweet, Poonawalla said, "Our partnership for a Covid-19 vaccine with @Novavax has also published excellent efficacy results. We have also applied to start trials in India. Hope to launch #Covovax by June 2021!"
