HC dismisses Sun Pharma's plea against Mylan on Oxaliplatin trademark case

Delhi High Court allows companies to approach bench after IPAB order

In a setback to India's biggest pharma company, the Delhi High Court recently refused to provide Sun Pharmaceuticals any interim relief in their trademark infringement case against rival drug manufacturer Mylan Laboratories for the production of the cancer medication Oxaliplatin. Sun Pharmaceuticals and Mylan are also at loggerheads at the Intellectual Property Appellate Tribunal (IPAB) on the same issue and are both seeking invalidation of each others trademark registrations for the drug.

In its verdict, the Delhi High court observed that is existed no case for passing of a temporary injunction at the present stage, as had been pressed for by Sun Pharmaceuticals. The its reasoning the court stated, "The mere fact that the plaintiff (Sun Pharma) is the prior user or registrant of its trademark is inconsequential." Instead, the court told both companies that they could approach the bench once the IPAB eventually passes its judgement on the issue under contention.

The High Court also observed that the words 'SOX' and 'OXI' used by the two companies (as prefixes) in their respective names for the medication were distinctly different in nature and did not merit possibility of deception or any fear of imperfect recollection. The court further observed that neither company could claim trademark exclusivity over the generic name of a drug, especially since a number of other manufacturers also have drugs to treat cancer and may use similar nomenclatures.