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Delhi HC permanently restrains Amazon from selling Pakistan-made Rooh Afza on its platform
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has permanently restrained e-commerce platform Amazon India from selling Pakistan-made Rooh Afza, the famous Indian sherbet, on its site. The court’s order came as a relief for Hamdard National Foundation, the Indian manufacturer of the drink.
Delhi HC permanently restrains Amazon from selling Pakistan-made Rooh Afza on its platform – Food Industry News
A single-judge bench of Justice Pratibha Singh was hearing a trademark infringement suit filed by plaintiffs Hamdard National Foundation and Hamdard Laboratories India.
Hamdard National Foundation claimed that a company ‘Golden Leaf’ was selling products under the ‘Rooh Afza’ trademark on Amazon India which were not sold by them. The plaintiffs purchased the said product on December 6 and found to their “utter shock and surprise” that the said product was manufactured in Pakistan.
The group also said that infringing product does not even comply with the provisions of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which governs such products.
Rooh Afza was first introduced by well-known Unani practitioner ‘Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed’ in Delhi. After partition, his elder son moved to India and the younger one to Pakistan. Hamdard National Foundation owns the rights over the drink in India, while Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) has the manufacturing rights in Pakistan.
“The mark ‘ROOH AFZA’ has been used by the Plaintiffs for a range of products including non-alcoholic sharbets and beverages, for which Plaintiff No 2 has obtained the assignment on 11th August, 1975 from Plaintiff No 1. The mark ROOH AFZA is registered in India and one of the registrations of the Plaintiffs dates back to 3rd August, 1942,” the high court said.
During a hearing on September 5, the high court directed the e-commerce site to remove the drink manufactured by a Pakistani company under the name “Rooh Afza” from its listings for Indian customers.
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