Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the former captain of the Indian cricket team, has always had a knack for staying in the spotlight, whether itâs through his cricketing prowess or off-field moves. This week, he made headlines again, not for hitting sixes but for a trademark battle.
Dhoni, known as âCaptain Coolâ, didnât just let a company snap up the trademark for his iconic nickname, he filed an objection and made sure to apply to get it moved into his name. And guess what? His application has been accepted.
While the registration process will take its time, itâs already a step forward. But hereâs a twist that hasnât been widely reportedâone of Dhoniâs associated companies has already successfully trademarked another of his nicknames,
âMahiâsâ, a name thatâs become just as popular over the years.
While weâre on the subject of trademarks, another name from South India is giving Google a run for its money. Googleâs parent company, Alphabet, has put billions of dollars into developing its AI platform âGeminiâ, which theyâre hoping will be the next big thing in the tech world. The issue? Thereâs already a âGemini TVâ, owned by the Maran familyâs Sun TV.
Naming businesses after zodiac signs is quite common in India, so Googleâs âGeminiâ wasnât the first to pop up. Google argues that its Gemini platform is in a completely different field than the TV channel. However, the trademark game in India doesnât work that way. Itâs usually âfirst come, first servedâ.
So, if youâre quick enough, your name might just be yoursâuntil someone else snatches it! It looks like Google will need to get creative if it wants to secure its AI trademark in India.
But it gets even more interesting. Google isnât the only one caught in the trademark chaos. Other AI platforms like DeepSeek, Grok, and ChatGPT have already been claimed by others.
According to reports, a Bengaluru-based company has raised an objection to ChatGPTâs trademark, claiming prior use of the same name for its education programme before ChatGPT became a household name in India.
In a similar twist, âGrokâ is already registered in India by another foreign company, Numneta Inc. Things get even curiouser with âDeepSeekâ. The term, and its variations, is now being sought by three different entities. Kuldeep Bhikhabhai Butani has applied for âDEEP SEEKâ, while Sonal Patel is after âDEEPSEEKâ. And Hangzhou Deepseek Artificial Intelligence is also in the running. All three applications are still pending, adding to the intrigue of this trademark tussle.
While artificial intelligence is causing a ruckus worldwide about stealing jobs, in India, it still has to figure out how to get a foot in the game of names. It seems like before it starts replacing workers, it needs to learn how to compete for trademarks!
Coming back to Dhoni, what about âThalaâ? This is the sobriquet he earned during his time with the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. âThalaâ means âleaderâ in Tamil, and while itâs already trademarked in other categories, it hasnât been claimed under sports or anything related to cricket yet. Will Dhoni file to get that under his name as well? Knowing Dhoni, it’s likely. Weâll have to wait and see if he takes a swing at âThalaâ, too.
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Foot in the Mouth
Whether these applications were intentional or pure coincidence is still up in the air. However, what seems to be more by designâand very much about designâare two incidents involving foreign companies. One has been accused of ripping off Indian designs while the other claims their designs were copied in India.
First up is Prada. The Italian luxury brand showcased a pair of humble footwear at a fashion show. Nothing too surprising, except that these looked eerily similar to Indiaâs Kolhapuri chappals. After an uproar, Prada admitted that the design indeed had an Indian link, or âinspired by traditional Indian handcrafted footwearâ as the company put it.
If it werenât for the outrage, those chappals, which cost only a few bucks, wouldâve been sold for hundreds of dollars in the global market. Kolhapuri chappals have the umbrella of GI tags (Geographical Indication), but experts say Prada couldâve gotten away with it unless they used the word âKolhapuriâ.
A GI tag signifies that a product comes from a specific region and has characteristics or a reputation directly linked to that location. This could be agricultural products like Darjeeling tea, foodstuff like Bikaneri Bhujia, handicraft like Kanchipuram silk sarees, or industrial products like Madurai Sungudi. So, Buta bhujia that looks or tastes like Bikaneri Bhujia can still be sold as long as it is not being made or sold in the garb of Bikaneri Bhujia.
As Prada tried to pass off the chappals as Kolhapuri, it would have been difficult to sue. In the end though, the real winners seem to be the artisans, as many e-commerce websites have reported a jump in Kolhapuri chappal sales since the controversy.
The second matter is also about footwear, by co-incidence surely, not design. US footwear giant Crocs has been fuming over the alleged copying of its iconic clog-style footwear in India.
After nearly a decade of fighting, the US company is finally getting some traction, with the Delhi High Court agreeing to hear its case, which was initially dismissed in 2019. Crocs has accused six companies including Bata, Liberty and Relaxo of copying and selling its famous design. In its defence, Liberty has reportedly claimed that the Crocs did not invent the design but merely adopted it. Hence, there is no case of copying, Liberty says. Letâs see how this dispute ends!
âUnlawful Gainsâ
Moving on to market news, for the past several months the Securities and Exchange Board of India has been tightening the screws on futures and options trading that it says disproportionately hurt retail investors and benefitted large brokers and institutional traders that use algos. This week, it took another big step to level the playing field.
The capital markets regulator on Thursday barred US trading company Jane Street from accessing the securities market. The decision followed a probe into its alleged market manipulation via positions taken in equities derivatives.
In an interim order, SEBI said Jane Street and its related entities wonât be able to participate in the stock market and canât buy or sell securities, directly or indirectly. Further, SEBI will monitor Jane Street’s activity on existing positions until it completes its investigation.
SEBI also said it will impound Rs 4,840 crore from Jane Street. This, SEBI said, were âunlawful gainsâ earned from the alleged misconduct.
On its part, Jane Street disputed the findings of the SEBI order and said it operates in compliance with all regulations in the regions it operates around the world.
Booser Dose
Switching to corporate developments, Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharmaceuticals made its biggest bet this week as it struck a deal to acquire smaller peer JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals New York-based buyout firm KKR.
Torrent will acquire a 46.39% stake in JB Chemicals from KKR for Rs 11,917 crore. It has also launched a mandatory open offer to buy up to 26% more of JB Pharma from public shareholders. Overall, the transaction values JB Chemicals around Rs 25,689 crore, or $3 billion. Eventually, Torrent wants to merge JB Chemicals with itself. Under the merger terms, Torrent will issue 51 of its shares to JB Pharma shareholders for every 100 shares held.
This isnât the first time Torrent Pharma has bought a company to expand its business. The list of its acquisitions goes back at least two decades. In 2005, it bought Heumann Pharma from Pfizer to enter the German market. It acquired Elder Pharmaâs Indian branded business in 2014, the dermaceutical business of Zyg Pharma in 2015, and a manufacturing plant from Glochem Industries in 2016. The following year, it bought women healthcare brands from Novartis and Unichem’s Indian branded business. This was followed by the acquisition of Curatio in 2022.
So, how does this acquisition benefit Torrent? Well, for one, it will strengthen its presence in the Indian pharma market and build a larger diversified global presence.
Unlike many drugmakers, which derive most of their sales from international markets, Torrentâs biggest market by revenue is India. Torrent offers drugs used to treat cancer, infections and diabetes. On the other hand, JB Chemicals is strong in segments such as gastrointestinal medicines and chronic conditions such as hypertension.
Market Wrap
Indiaâs stock markets reversed course this week with the benchmark indices oscillating between gains and losses amid
uncertainty over the potential India-US trade deal ahead of the July 9 deadline.
The Sensex and the Nifty fell 0.7% each this week, after clocking a 2% rise last week. The mid-cap index eked out a 0.5%
gain while the small-caps inched 0.3% higher. Among sectoral indices, seven of the 13 dropped this week. Market
breadth was negative with 29 of the 50 Nifty stocks and 19 of the 30 Sensex companies ending in the red this week.
Among Nifty stocks, Tata-owned retailer Trent was the top loser, plunging nearly 9%, after forecasting growth that fell
short of investor expectations.
Financial stocks, which had risen last week, slipped this week with Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Shriram Finance
as well as the Bajaj twinsâBajaj Finserv and Bajaj Financeâending in the red.
IT stocks were mixed; Tech Mahindra and TCS fell but Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech gained. FMCG stocks were largely
downâNestle, Tata Consumer and ITC slipped. But Hindustan Unilever managed to stay in the green.
Apollo Hospitals was the top Nifty gainer after saying it planned to list its digital health and pharmacy unit in the next 18
to 21 months.
Other Headlines
- Cabinet approves employment-linked incentive scheme with Rs 1 trillion budget to create 35 million jobs
- State Bank of India flags Reliance Communications loan account for suspected fraud
- Competition Commission of India orders probe of Asian Paints after rival Birla’s complaint
- E-commerce startup Meesho confidentially files DRHP for IPO, plans to raise Rs 4,250 crore in fresh capital
- Airport restaurants operator Travel Food Services sets Rs 1,045-1,100 price band for IPO, to raise Rs 2,000 crore
- Auto-parts maker Tenneco Clean Air India files for an IPO worth up to Rs 3,000 crore
- Auto-parts maker Hero Motors files DRHP for IPO of up to Rs 1,200 crore
- HDB Financial Services gains 13.6% on stock exchange debut
- Reliance Industries to spin off consumer goods business into new unit
- Maruti Suzuki domestic sales fall 13.3% in June; Hyundai sales slip 12.1%
- Tata Motors domestic sales drop 14.8% but Mahindra & Mahindra local sales surge 18.2%
- HSBC India Services Purchasing Managers' Index climbs to 10-month high of 60.4 in June
- HSBC India Manufacturing PMI climbs to 14-month high of 58.4 in June from May’s 57.6
- Industrial output growth slows to nine-month low of 1.2% in May, shows govt data
- Banks’ gross NPAs to remain close to multi-decade lows, says RBI report
- Apollo Hospitals plans to list digital health and pharmacy arm in 18-21 months
- Fire at Sigachi Industries chemical factory in Telangana kills 40 people, injures over 33
- NSE to start electricity futures trading from July 14
- Lupin to spin off consumer healthcare business
Thatâs all for this week. Until next week, happy investing.
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