Pune court temporarily blocks termination of trademark pacts in Kirloskar dispute

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A Pune district court has temporarily restrained Kirloskar Proprietary Ltd (KPL) from terminating its trademark licence and user agreements with Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL). The court's decision, made on 9 January, came in response to KBL's application in an ongoing civil suit regarding the ownership and use of trademarks associated with the Kirloskar Group.

The court ruled in favour of KBL, granting a temporary injunction and preventing KPL from taking any steps to terminate the trademark agreements pending the final disposal of the suit. The dispute arose after KPL issued termination notices to KBL in July 2024, citing several alleged breaches of the agreements. KBL, a listed entity incorporated in 1926, challenged these notices, arguing that the alleged breaches were minor and could be rectified.

The case revolves around a series of trademark assignments that were made between KBL and KPL, following the creation of Kirloskar Proprietary in the 1970s. KPL was set up to manage the intellectual property rights of various Kirloskar Group companies, including the trademarks KBL originally owned. KBL contends that these assignments were made as part of a “family arrangement" to protect the Kirloskar trademarks and ensure that they were not diluted by third-party interests.

KBL argued that the trademarks should revert to it if the conditions of the user agreements, which are seen as continuing agreements, were no longer met. According to KBL’s legal team, the breaches cited by KPL—ranging from royalty payments to quality control audits—were trivial and largely due to KPL’s own inaction. The Pune court agreed with KBL’s contention that the breaches were not substantial enough to justify