Madras High Court Issues Notice To Actor Vijay & TVK In Appeal In Trademark Infringement Case Over Party Flag

The bench of Justice G Jayachandran and Justice Mummineni Sudheer Kumar issued notice to Vijay and his party and adjourned the case by 6 weeks.

In August this year, a single judge of the High Court had dismissed an application seeking an interim injunction to restrain the usage of the party flag following alleged trademark infringement. The court had rejected the claim that the party's continued usage of the flag amounted to copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and passing off.

The pleas were filed by G.B. Pachaiyappan, trustee of the Thondai Mandala Saandror Dharma Paribalana Sabai. The petitioners had argued that the flag of Vijay's TVK party was deceptively similar to that of the Trust's trademark. It was submitted that by adopting a similar and identical flag, with yellow and red colour combination and three stripes, the party had imitated the Trust's unique, distinctive mark, causing confusion and deception, and thus amounting to trademark violation.

The petitioners had also argued that they had been using the mark since 2023 and an application for trademark registration was also made in November 2023. It was also submitted that they were involved in working for the social needs of the people, and the mark had been used as part of their services, developing a considerable reputation and goodwill.

The petitioner pointed out that both parties flags used similar colour schemes. When the judge questioned if the colour combination had been specifically registered, the plaintiff pointed out that as per the new Trademark Act, when a mark was registered in colour, it was assumed that the colour scheme was also registered. The petitioner also claimed that its flag would come under the definition of an "artistic work" and would thus be eligible for protection as such.

On the other hand, TVK had argued that since neither the plaintiff nor the defendants were engaged in any trade or commerce, they could not claim relief under the Trademark Act. It was argued that a trademark was always associated with a good and service and here, no connection had been shown. It was submitted that though there were similarities in the colour scheme, he submitted that the total getup, look and style of the two marks were totally different and there was no possibility of any confusion.

The single judge had noted that there was nothing to show that TVK party's flag was a substantial copy of the petitioner's flag and had rejected the claim of copyright infringement. With respect to the claim of passing off, the judge had noted that the petitioner had failed to establish the classical trinity of goodwill and reputation, misrepresentation and damage to such goodwill and reputation.

Case Title: GB Pachaiyappan and Another v. Tamilaga Vetrri Kazhagam and Another

Case No: O.S.A (CAD) 102 of 2025