Madras High Court Restores Sakthi Masala Trademark, Slams Registry for Unfair Cancellation
The Madras High Court has restored the long-standing trademark registration of Sakthi Masala, holding that the Trade Marks Registry acted unfairly and without following the law.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh ruled that cancelling a trademark that had existed for decades without giving any notice to the company was arbitrary and violated basic principles of natural justice.
Sakthi Trading Company has been using the “SAKTHI” brand since 1977 for food products such as masala powders, spices, cereals, edible oil, pickles, flour, and papad. The trademark was officially registered in 2005 and had been renewed regularly since then.
Despite this, the Trade Marks Registry cancelled the registration without informing the company and later treated the trademark as “abandoned” based on a public notice issued in 2023. The Court found that this entire process lacked any legal basis and denied the company its right to be heard.
The dispute began when a public notice issued by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks in February 2023 listed several trademarks as abandoned for not filing counter-statements to oppositions. Sakthi Trading Company discovered that its registered trademark was included in this list, even though no notice had been served on it.
Earlier, similar public notices were challenged before the Delhi High Court, where the government assured that the notices would be withdrawn and affected trademarks restored. Based on this assurance, the Delhi High Court closed the case.
However, despite this assurance, the Trade Marks Registry went ahead in May 2025 and cancelled Sakthi’s registration, treating it as abandoned. The Madras High Court strongly criticised this move, stating that once the public notices were to be withdrawn, there was no question of asking the company to respond to any opposition.
The Court also clarified that once a trademark is granted and renewed, it cannot be cancelled on the Registry’s own decision. If anyone has an issue with the registration, the correct legal route is to file a rectification application, which follows a formal legal process.
Allowing the appeal filed under Section 91 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the Court set aside the cancellation order and directed the Registrar of Trade Marks to reinstate Sakthi Masala’s 2005 trademark registration within four weeks.
