The Delhi High Court has emphasized the need for heightened vigilance in cases of trademark violations within the pharmaceutical industry, asserting that proactive measures are essential to protect public interest. This directive came in a case where Mankind Pharma Limited challenged the marketing tactics of Sanshiv Health Tech Private Limited over their nutritional supplement, ‘Calika-P.’
In a decisive order, the court granted an interim injunction, barring Sanshiv Health from selling ‘Calika-P’—a product Mankind Pharma argued closely mimicked its established supplements, ‘Caldikind’ and ‘Caldikind-P.’ Justice Saurabh Banerjee stressed that courts must act rigorously in such matters to prevent public confusion.
“This court must adopt a stricter stance in pharmaceutical disputes where competing products share similar trade dress and trademarks. The likelihood of confusion among consumers increases significantly, especially since both companies target the same audience through identical sales channels,” the court noted.
The conflict arose after Mankind Pharma alleged that Sanshiv Health was deliberately infringing on its trademark and leveraging its market reputation. According to the plaintiff, the ‘Caldikind’ trademark had been in use since 2007 for calcium and zinc supplements, followed by the launch of a pediatric version, ‘Caldikind-P,’ in 2017. In September 2024, Mankind discovered that Sanshiv Health had introduced a product visually identical to theirs under the name ‘Calika-P.’
Upon reviewing the competing products, the court concluded that the packaging, design, and trade dress of ‘Calika-P’ mirrored those of Mankind’s products, leading to a clear inference that Sanshiv Health sought to ride on the goodwill of Mankind Pharma. “There appears to be no legitimate reason for such a close resemblance unless the intent is to deceive consumers into believing the products originate from the same company,” the court observed.
As part of the interim order, Sanshiv Health has been restrained from selling or promoting any goods under the ‘Calika-P’ brand or any name deceptively similar to ‘Caldikind’ until further notice. The court scheduled the next hearing for January 27, 2025, with pleadings to be completed by December 18, 2024.
Mankind Pharma was represented by a legal team led by Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, while no representation was made on behalf of Sanshiv Health during the proceedings.
