KMF, a federation of cooperative milk producers in Karnataka, has been using the ‘NANDINI’ trademark since 1983 for milk and other dairy products, building widespread recognition in Karnataka and adjacent states. It argued that allowing another company to register the same word without distinction could confuse consumers familiar with the dairy brand when they encounter the identical mark in unrelated products like agarbattis.

The dispute centred on the application by Shalimar Agarbatti Company (operated by Vinod Kanji Shah and Nitin Kanji Shah) to register ‘nandini’ in Class 3 — the category covering agarbattis and dhoops. KMF opposed this under multiple sections of the Trade Marks Act, but the Trade Marks Registry initially dismissed the objection, asserting that the name was a personal name and that the goods were not related.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh disagreed with the Registry’s assessment, finding that the mark’s phonetic identity and identical visual style could easily mislead customers accustomed to KMF’s dairy products. Unlike previous trademark rulings, such as the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Nandhini Deluxe vs. KMF where differentiators like suffixes, unique logos and trade dresses were present, in this case no such distinguishing features existed.