KVIC sends legal notice to Peter England over Khadi trademark

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has sent a legal notice to Aditya Birla Group’s Madura Fashion & Lifestyle asking it to stop using trade name ‘Khadi’ without its permission and stop its unauthorised use”. 

KVIC, which has asked the company to stop the use of trade mark ‘Khadi’, also sought its response within 15 days of receipt of the notice. 

The notice was triggered by an advertisement by the company in a national daily last month to promote its apparels under the brand name ‘Peter England’.  

“According to Regulation 3 of the Khadi Mark Regulation, no textile shall be sold or otherwise trade by any person or certified khadi institution as Khadi or khadi products in any form or manner without it bearing a Khadi Mark tag or label issued by the Committee under the said regulations,” the KVIC notice said. 

Maintaining that the company issued an advertisement in a daily for sale of its clothes by “unauthorisedly” using the name ‘Khadi’, KVIC said “you are hereby called upon to immediately stop issuing advertisement in the name of khadi in newspapers and other medias and not to sell the cloth/dress materials/garments etc by using the name ‘Khadi’ without obtaining proper Khadi Mark Registration from KVIC.” 

The KVIC is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament. In April 1957, it took over the work of former All India Khadi and Village Industries Board. 

The KVIC is charged with the planning, promotion, organisation and implementation of programmes for development of Khadi and other village industries in the rural areas in coordination with other agencies engaged in rural development wherever necessary.