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Venkatesh Ganesh Vijay Ravindra Kirloskar, Chairman of Bengaluru-based Kirloskar Electric Company, has moved a Pune court alleging ‘unauthorised’ use of the ‘Kirloskar’ brand name by his nephews Atul, Rahul and Vikram Kirloskar.
This comes even as Atul, Rahul and Vikram Kirloskar are separately fighting a legal battle against their brother Sanjay Kirloskar for control over Kirloskar Brothers Ltd.
Vijay Kirloskar’s lawsuit has alleged misappropriation of trademarks by seven entities that are not shareholders of Kirloskar Proprietary Ltd (KPL) but are using the ‘Kirloskar’ trademark without paying any royalty. The entities are Arka Fincap, Kirloskar Technologies Pvt Ltd, Kirloskar Energen Pvt Ltd, Kirloskar Industries, SL Kirloskar CSR Foundation, Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies and Kirloskar Foundation.
Further, Vijay Kirloskar, in his lawsuit, said he was shocked to notice that the accused were using the trademark ‘Kirloskar’ / ‘Kirloskar Enriching Lives’ under some alleged licence agreement or writings.
“They were not even members of KPL, which is a prerequisite under the Articles of Association,” the court filing stated.
Vijay Kirloskar holds a 7.87 per cent stake in KPL, which is the custodian of the trademarks associated with the ‘Kirloskar’ name. He has sought ₹50 lakh as token compensation for this violation. The siblings and other defendants are yet to file their version in court.
Vijay Kirloskar said he first got wind of the matter in July 2019, when he received a notice for an AGM of KPL.
Share allotment
One of the items on the agenda was to issue and offer seven non-cumulative, non-voting, non-convertible, redeemable preference shares of ₹100 each for cash at par on a private placement basis to the seven entities.
Subsequently, in December 2019, he moved the Pune court in an effort to prevent the allotment of KPL shares to these seven entities. However, they responded that six of them were using the trademark ‘Kirloskar’ for the past many years under a licence agreement, and paying royalty for the same. The case will next be heard on November 27.
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