KARACHI: The Delhi High Court has “permanently restrained” retailers on Amazon.in from selling Pakistan-made Rooh Afza on the e-commerce website following a trademark claim made by the famous sherbet’s Indian manufacturer, Dawn.com reported.

“The listings of infringing ‘Rooh Afza’ products on the website http://www.amazon.in not originating from the plaintiffs (Hamdard National Foundation) shall be removed within 48 hours,” the judge ruled while hearing the trademark infringement case filed by India’s Hamdard National Foundation (HNF).

In its petition, the HNF said it owned the right to “Hamdard” and “Rooh Afza” trademarks and had noticed last year that some sellers on Amazon had listed “Rooh Afza” products.

It approached Amazon after which some of the listings were removed, noting however that the foundation recently found that some retailers were selling Rooh Afza bottles manufactured in Pakistan.

The Pakistan-made bottles did not comply with the law, which governs such products in India, the petitioner contended.

“The mark Rooh Afza is registered in India and one of the registrations of the plaintiffs dates back to Aug 3, 1942,” The Indian Express quoted the court as observing.

Rooh Afza was first sold in 1907 in old Delhi by Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed. After Partition, one of his sons stayed in Delhi while the other moved to Pakistan.

They set up factories in both the countries — as well as one in East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh in 1971 — under two firms.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2022