KSRTC vs KSRTC: All you need to know about the Karnataka-Kerala trademark row

Kerala and Karnataka are back in the battleground to claim exclusive rights to use the 'KSRTC' trademark for their respective road transportation corporations. The battle over the legal custody of the acronym resurfaced after Kerala on Wednesday claimed that it has won the battle for KSRTC, which has been in use for both Karnataka and Kerala state transport services since the 60s and 70s.

Here’s all you need to know about the Karnataka-Kerala trademark row:

> The legal battle between Karnataka and Kerala over intellectual property rights was going on for seven years to claim the KSRTC trademark.

> The battle began in 2014 when Karnataka road transport corporation (RTC) took the first step for trademark registration and asked Kerala to not use the acronym further.

> The Karnataka RTC secured the registration of the KSRTC trademark back in 2013, while later in 2019 Kerala received its letter of registration.

> Both the states were using the ‘KSRTC’ acronym on all the buses and websites of their respective RTCs, until now.

> After the Controller General of Patents Design and Trade Marks under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry approved Kerala’s claim on Wednesday, now the Kerala RTC will display KSRTC with the registration ‘®’ wherever the state uses it.

> Not just the acronym ‘KSRTC’, but the logo of two elephants and the term ‘Ana Vandi’ will also be used by Kerala only.

Also read — KSRTC trademark row set to deepen as Karnataka dismisses Kerala RTC's claim

> Kerala RTC’s CMD has told that they will be sending legal notices to people who are using the acronym and can claim money from people using it.

> The Kerala RTC started using the acronym ‘KSRTC’ when they first commenced the services in 1965 whereas Karnataka RTC commenced services only by 1974 and started using the acronym since then. According to sources, this was the major contention of Kerala.

The KSRTC trademark row is set to deepen as the Karnataka government has dismissed Kerala’s claims saying that “the reported claims of Kerala RTC are wrong.”