Amul wins first copyrights case outside India; awarded trademark status in Canada

Marking a first for India's dairy giant Amul, the Canadian Federal Court on June 22, ruled in its favour that a brand named 'Amul Canada' had infringed on Amul's copyright by advertising their product, using their brand image and name, as well as corporate information via popular jobs site LinkedIn. The court ordered 'Amul Canada' to transfer to Amul ownership and all rights access, administration, and control for and over the LinkedIn pages/accounts together with any other LinkedIn pages/accounts, domain names and social media pages registered to or controlled by it displaying Amul's trademark within 30 days of the order. It also rewarded damages of $ 32,733 to Amul by 'Amul Canada' for infringing Trademarks Act & Copyright Act.

Amul wins copyright case in Canada

The order, as quoted on Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)'s website, reads, "he Defendants shall transfer to the Plaintiffs or their counsel within thirty (30) days of the date of this Judgment, ownership and all rights access, administration, and control for and over the LinkedIn pages/accounts listed below, together with any other LinkedIn pages/accounts, domain names and social media pages registered to or controlled by the Defendants displaying the Plaintiffs’ trademark or copyright. The Plaintiffs are awarded damages in the amount of $10,000 for actions contrary to the Trademarks Act, $5,000 for actions contrary to the Copyright Act and costs in the lump sum of $17,733". Amul MD R S Sodhi termed it a 'win of 3.6 million farmers'.

What was the copyrights case?

As per CanLII, Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers and Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd moved the Federal Court of Canada against Amul Canada and four others - Mohit Rana, Akash Ghosh, Chandu Das and Patel for allegedly copyright infringement. As per reports, in January 2020, Amul learnt that the group had copied Amul's logo and tagline 'Amul: The Taste of India' to create a profile on LinkedIn. Despite Amul's several attempts, the four individuals and Amul Canada never responded to Amul's notices, leading to a court battle. Post Amul's court victory, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board of Canada granted Amul trademark status. Anand Milk Union Ltd (Amul) is India's largest food marketing organisation which approximately procures 23 million lt/day from 18600 village milk cooperative societies with an annual turnover of $5.1 billion.