The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations for brand protection across the world, has ordered a Delhi-based firm against using a domain name www.urbankhadi.com, which illegally uses the  brand name “Khadi”.

The administrative panel of WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center ruled that the firm “Om Soft Solutions”, owned by one Harsh Gaba, had registered and used the domain name www.urbankhadi.com in “bad faith” and to gain benefit from the goodwill of Khadi, an official statement put out by the Indian government stated.

The panel’s order came on a petition of government-owned Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) against Om Soft Solutions, which was indulging in the business of garments by misusing the brand name “Khadi”.

The panel lent credence to KVIC’s contentions that “it was a systematic attempt by Mr Harsh Gaba to derive unfair advantage, wrongful commercial gains and to mislead the public into believing that www.urbankhadi.com is an associate of Khadi India”.

“It is evident that the respondent can have no legitimate interest in the disputed domain name…nobody would use the word “Khadi” unless seeking to create an impression of an association with Khadi,” the WIPO panel noted, according to the government statement.

“….the evidence submitted by the complainant (KVIC) leads to the presumption that the disputed domain name www.urbankhadi.com was registered and used by the respondent in bad faith….the panel orders that the disputed domain name be transferred to the complainant, i.e. KVIC,” the panel ruled.

The panel rejected the arguments of Om Soft Solutions that the word “Khadi” enjoyed no protection and that nobody had an exclusive right to use the name “Khadi”.

“…. the complainant (KVIC) is the owner of several KHADI trademark registrations. The complainant is also the owner of trademarks “Khadi” and “Khadi India”…the disputed domain name www.urbankhadi.com includes the trademark of KVIC and is confusingly similar or identical to the trademarks of the complainant (KVIC),” the panel observed.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the WIPO’s order will bolster Khadi’s fight against violation of its brand name not only in India but also globally.

KVIC, in recent times, has won several cases against violation of its trademark “Khadi”. On June 4, Delhi High Court barred a Ghaziabad-based trader JBMR Enterprises from manufacturing and selling counterfeit Khadi Prakritik Paint. On May 28, Delhi High Court restrained “Khadi Design Council of India” and “Miss India Khadi Foundation” from using “Khadi” brand name, the official statement said, outlining a slew of such favourable judgements.