The Madras High Court on Thursday passed an absolute injunction order against Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved over its controversial 'Coronil' drug which was marketed as a cure for COVID-19.
The HC dismissed a plea by Patanjali and the Divya Yog Mandir Trust to vacate a July interim injunction order and permanently directed Patanjali to stop using the trademark 'Coronil' as there was no evidence that it could cure coronavirus and the coinage of the same was without due cause and with the intention to "mislead the general public".
The order by Justice C.V. Karthikeyan, which ran into over 100 pages, stated that Patanjali had "directly infringed upon the very word 'Coronil'"and ruled in favour of Chennai-based company Arudra Engineering which had claimed ownership of the name. The plaintiff had contended that Coronil-92B was its own registered trademark since 1993 for an "acid inhibitor for industrial cleaning". The plaintiff had contested that their right over the trademark would be valid until 2027.
Noting that Patanjali had no due cause to claim the use of the word 'Coronil', Justice Karthikeyan observed, "It must be kept in mind, that there is no cure for Coronavirus anywhere in the world as on date. People are dying. In these tragic times, the defendants seek to make money, money, money. They seek to exploit the fear among the people by projecting that they could cure Coronavirus. There is no cause much less due cause, and much less just cause to permit the defendants from using the word 'Coronil'".
The order noted that Patanjali, despite being a Rs 10,000 crore company, was "still chasing further profits by exploiting the fear and panic among the general public by projecting a cure for the Coronavirus, when actually their 'Coronil Tablet' is not a cure but rather an immunity booster for cough, cold and fever".
The HC slapped Patanjali with a total fine of Rs 10 lakh, with 5 lakh to go to the Dean, Adyar Cancer Institute and 5 lakh to go to the Dean, Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College & Hospital, Arumbakkam. The bench noted that "a simple check with the Trade Marks Registry" would have revealed that 'Coronil' was already a registered trademark.
The Madras HC had restrained Patanjali from using the Coronil trademark in July.
The move comes a day after Ramdev said his Haridwar-based company was struggling to meet the demand for Coronil, with daily demand for 10 lakh packs but the ability to produce only one lakh.
"Today we have a demand of 10 lakh packs of Coronil daily and we are able to supply only one lakh," Ramdev claimed at an ASSOCHAM virtual series.
Patanjali had initially marketed Coronil as a cure for COVID-19. However, the AYUSH ministry placed restrictions on such marketing and ordered the company to desist from marketing the product as a COVID-19 cure and to instead sell it as an immunity booster.
