‘Boroline’ vs ‘Borobeauty’: Delhi HC rules in favour of popular antiseptic cream in trademark case
GD Pharmaceuticals had submitted that their products are “not only known for their superior quality, but are well recognised and immensely popular amongst doctors, chemists, patients and over three generations of loyal consumers, since 1929”.
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The court also held that the trademark Boroline “qualifies as a well-known trademark”. (File Photo)It was in the 1920s, at the height of the Swadeshi Movement in pre-Independence India, that a humble over-the-counter antiseptic ointment was created by Gour Mohan Gupta. Boroline — packaged in a slim dark green tube and a small black cap — soon became a household staple used for skin ailments and infections.
Over a century later, its parent company, G D Pharmaceuticals, found itself engaged in a trademark war with another cosmetic brand selling similarly designed products labelled ‘Borobeauty’. The case went to the Delhi High Court.
In an order issued earlier this month, the HC issued a decree of permanent injunction in favour of GD Pharmaceuticals’ ‘Boroline’ and held the Boroline trademark as a “well-known trademark”.
The court of Justice Mini Pushkarna on August 7 directed Cento Products (India), “its partners, proprietors, servants, agents, and all others in active concert or participation with them,” from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, advertising, directly or indirectly dealing in products bearing the mark with the name ‘BOROBEAUTY’. It also directed it to change its trade dress and trademark, “which shall be totally distinct and different from the plaintiff’s well-known trademark and trade dress”.
The court ruled that Cento Products (India) “shall not use the trade dress of dark green colour”, which is used by GD Pharmaceuticals’ Boroline, and that they shall adopt a new trade name “which would not include the prefix ‘BORO’ and would not be similar to the trademark of the plaintiff, ‘BOROLINE’.
Additionally, Cento Products (India) was also directed to pay Rs 2 lakh to GD Pharmaceuticals for the long pendency of the copyright infringement and trademark suit that was moved by the latter in 2019.
The court also held that the trademark Boroline “qualifies as a well-known trademark”.
“There is no denying the fact that ‘BOROLINE’ has attained the status of a household name, and is one of the oldest trademarks, which has been in continuous use, preceding the independence of India,” it said.
To evidence Boroline’s long-lasting market presence, the court was also provided with a newspaper clip from August 15, 1947 — the day India became independent — containing a Boroline ad, which the court reproduced in its order.
GD Pharmaceuticals had submitted that their products are “not only known for their superior quality, but are well recognised and immensely popular amongst doctors, chemists, patients and over three generations of loyal consumers, since 1929”.
Additionally, it was also submitted that due to the cream’s “extensive and continuous use,” the Boroline trademark is recognised not only throughout the geographical extent of India but also recognised in other countries, with the trademark registered in countries like Oman, Turkey, Bangladesh, and UAE.
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