High Court restrains Institute of Cost Accountants of India from using ‘ICAI’ acronym

Restraint order against Institute of Cost Accountants of India

ICAI Announcement

In a civil suit filed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for the infringement of its Trademark ‘ICAI’, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi vide judgment dated 21.03.2023 has restrained the Institute of Cost Accountants of India from using ‘ICAI’ as an acronym for its Institution or for the services provided by it. The Hon’ble High Court has further directed that the Institute of Cost Accountants of India shall also take steps to ensure that the acronym ‘ICAI’ is removed from all physical and virtual media/websites where the Institute of Cost Accountants of India has its presence including all websites on the Internet as well as its social media platforms within 3 months. The High Court has observed that there is a clear prima facie case of infringement by the usage of ‘ICAI’ acronym by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and the facts of the case clearly fall under Section 29(2)(c) read with Section 29(3) of the Trademarks Act, 1999 involving infringement of registered Trademark and accordingly, the prayer of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for interlocutory injunction was granted by the Hon’ble High Court.

Full text of the Judgment of the High Court can be accessed at the link given below:

https://resource.cdn.icai.org/73445lagal59268.pdf

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