The story so far: The longstanding dispute over the use of the abbreviation ‘KSRTC’ between Karnataka and Kerala has finally concluded. The Madras High Court recently ruled that there is no legal restriction preventing the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation from using the abbreviation ‘KSRTC’.
Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has secured legal ownership of its trademarks, including the abbreviation KSRTC. Both Karnataka and Kerala SRTCs have been using the abbreviation KSRTC for many decades now.
A controversy regarding the trademark designation ‘KSRTC’ surfaced in 2021 when the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation claimed that the Trademark Registry had granted exclusive rights to them for using the ‘KSRTC’ trademark. According to their claim, their counterpart in Karnataka had no entitlement to the trademark.
This sparked a huge controversy between the two state-operated transport corporations, leading to a legal dispute.
Who got the KSRTC acronym first?
The Mysore Government Road Transport Department (MGRTD), started in 1948 in Karnataka, transformed into the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation in 1973. Meanwhile, in Kerala, the former Travancore State Transport Department was reinstated as the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation on April 1, 1965.
According to officials from Karnataka SRTC, even though Kerala began using the acronym KSRTC first, it was Karnataka that initially registered the acronym.
“KSRTC had applied for a grant of Trade Mark Certificate for the use of the ‘KSRTC’ abbreviation. The corporation was granted Trade Mark Certificates by the Trade Mark Registry of the Government of India in 2013 with a user date of 1.11.1973. Copyright is also obtained from the Registrar of Copy Rights for the use of the ‘KSRTC’ logo and ‘Gandabherunda art’,” a senior KSRTC official told The Hindu.
The Kerala RTC, too, obtained registration of the marks in 2019, claiming prior use.
How did the legal battle unfold?
In 2014, Karnataka SRTC submitted an application to register the KSRTC trademark with the Trade Mark Registrar’s office in Chennai. Upon successful registration, they issued a notice to the Kerala RTC, objecting to the use of the trademark.
In response, the Kerala RTC sought the intervention of the State Trade Mark Registrar, and Kerala emerged victorious by invoking Section 34 of the Trade Mark Act, which pertains to the “first user” rule. This section stipulates that a trademark proprietor cannot prohibit another party from using an identical or similar mark if the latter commenced usage before the proprietor’s use or registration date. Since Kerala RTC was the initial user, starting in 1965, it established the right to use that trademark.
In substantiating its claim, Kerala RTC provided evidence in the form of photographs depicting old buses, bus depots and stands, written records, reports, and even scenes from old Malayalam movies. As part of the evidence, Kerala showcased scenes from the 1969 movie Kannur Deluxe, featuring visuals of a Kerala SRTC bus operating between Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram.
What is the Madras High Court order ?
In a release recently, Karnataka SRTC said that the Madras High Court had dismissed Kerala SRTC’s claim for “exclusive” use of KSRTC abbreviation.
First Kerala State Road Transport Corporation had challenged Karnataka obtaining the copyright from the Registrar of Copy Rights for the use of the ‘KSRTC’ in the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) at Chennai.
In response, Karnataka SRTC had contended that Kerala State Road Transport Corporation is aware of the use of the trade mark by the Karnataka SRTC for 42 years, and hence, they are not entitled to apply for a declaration that the registration of the later trade mark is invalid since they have acquiesced the usage of the mark by Karnataka SRTC.
The matters that were pending before the IPAB were transferred to the High Court of Madras at Chennai after the abolition of IPAB by the Central Government.
“The matter was posted before the High Court of Madras on December 12, and the High Court has dismissed the application filed by Kerala SRTC and the case is decided in favour of Karnataka SRTC. In view of the dismissal of the case filed by Kerala SRTC, the Karnataka SRTC has no legal hurdle to use the name “KSRTC’’ in future also,” a KSRTC official said. Now there is no legal hurdle for either to continue to do so. However, Kerala is currently using “Kerala SRTC” on their inter-state buses. The website domains of the two are “keralartc.com” and “ksrtc.in”.
What is the current size of the KSRTC operations and what is its reach?
Karnataka SRTC has its Corporate office at Bengaluru. Presently, it covers 17 Districts -Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Kolar, Chickballapur, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Shivamogga, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajnagar, Kodagu - under its operational jurisdiction.
The Corporation operates within a three-tier system comprising the corporate office, division offices, and depots. It consists of a total of 16 divisions, including 15 operating divisions and one dedicated to the Kempegowda Bus Station in Bengaluru. Additionally, there are 82 depots, two regional workshops, one central training institute, four regional training institutes, one printing press, and one hospital.
KSRTC has a workforce of about 34,904 employees. It operates on an average 26.79 lakh kms daily with a fleet size of 8113 vehicles and earns traffic revenue of ₹961.12 lakh daily by catering to 23.23 lakh passengers on an average. It stands fifth amongst State Transport Undertaking (STUs) in the nation by size.
