Minister of State for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma has informed that Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is viewing the sale of spurious/non-Khadi products by some unauthorized outlets selling products in the name of Khadi very seriously and is closely and constantly searching for such entities, to take stern actions against them.
Upto January 2022, KVIC had issued 2172 notices to entities engaged in the unauthorized sale of products in the name of Khadi. Nearly, 500 entities have apologized for unknowingly using the Khadi Trade Mark, and have removed them from their products and websites.
KVIC has not undertaken any study so far regarding impact of manufacturing and sale of fake Khadi products in the market.
KVIC has so far filed 9 suits against different entities for infringement of Trade Mark and in most of the cases got interim injunction against the infringes. Details, of court cases filed against misuse of Khadi, are as under:
1. Suit filed in Delhi High Court against:
- Khadi Essentials, Delhi
- Iwearkhadi, Uttar Pradesh
- Khadi Design Council of India, Uttar Pradesh
- JBMR Enterprises-Khadi Prakritik Paint, Uttar Pradesh
- Girdhar Khadi, Haryana
- Khadi by Heritage, Delhi
2. Suit filed in Mumbai High Court against:
- Fabindia, Mumbai, Maharashtra
- India Khadi Fashion, Maharashtra
- Khadi Store, Pehnava, Maharashtra and Rajasthan
KVIC has taken the following steps to check manufacture and sale of fake Khadi products:
- KVIC has obtained Trade Mark Registration for the wordmark “KHADI”, under most of the classes including classes-24 & 25 (textiles and textile products).
- KVIC has appointed 7 Trade Mark Consultants, who are actively watching the Trade Mark infringements by third parties and issuing legal notices to the unauthorized users.
- KVIC is also removing the links regarding the online sale of fake Khadi products from e-commerce platforms and social media on a continuous basis. So far, KVIC already removed 2487 links from Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, WhatsApp, YouTube etc.
- KVIC is constantly opposing the applications for registration of Trade Marks filed by third parties with the word ‘KHADI’ as part of their Trade Mark. So far, KVIC filed 162 oppositions.
- KVIC is also filing rectification applications before the Trade Mark Authorities for cancellation of the Trade Marks of the third parties already registered, which contains the word “KHADI” as part of its Trade Mark. So far, KVIC already filed 43 rectification applications.