Delhi High Court Stops Indore Firm From Using Glaxo-Like Drug Packaging, Grants Temporary Injunction

The Delhi High Court has granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of pharmaceutical company Glaxo Group Limited, restraining an Indore-based trader from using trademarks and packaging deceptively similar to its popular medicinal brands including ZINETAC, AUGMENTIN, CALPOL and BETNESOL, after finding a prima facie case of infringement and breach of an earlier undertaking.

In an order passed on March 10, 2026, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela held that the defendant, Anand Jain trading as Jain Group/Jankem Life Science, had continued to use marks and trade dress similar to those of the plaintiff despite having undertaken in 2024 to cease such use and destroy the infringing inventory.

The court observed that both parties dealt in pharmaceutical and medicinal preparations sold to the same class of consumers and that similarity in packaging and trade dress was likely to cause confusion.

“It has to be borne in mind that not only are the plaintiff and defendant manufacturing pharmaceutical medicinal preparations in Class-5, the consumer base too would be common… The comparison table evidently demonstrates the confusion that an unwary consumer would be confronted with while purchasing medicinal preparations,” the Court said.

According to the plaint, the company discovered in September 2023 that the defendant, based in Indore, was manufacturing and selling medicines bearing marks and packaging allegedly identical or deceptively similar to those of the plaintiff, both through offline channels and third-party e-commerce websites.

A cease-and-desist notice was issued in November 2023, following which the defendant executed an undertaking on July 31, 2024 agreeing to cease use of the impugned marks and packaging by August 31, 2024, destroy remaining inventory, and remove online listings.

However, the plaintiff alleged that an investigation in 2025 revealed that the defendant had not complied with the undertaking and had launched new products, including BETAJAN and BETAJOX, in packaging allegedly similar to the trade dress of the plaintiff's BETNESOL product, while online listings also showed products under marks such as JANTAC and MOXYCROT.

The company stated that it has been present in India since 1919 and holds registered trademarks for several medicinal products, including ZINETAC, and that the distinctive packaging of its products has acquired protectable trade dress under the Trade Marks Act and constitutes original artistic work under the Copyright Act.

After examining the material on record, the court noted:

“This Court has also perused the brochures of the products issued by the defendant for its medicinal preparations which also, prima facie, display the infringement of trade dress and packaging of the plaintiff.”

Holding that the plaintiff had made out a strong prima facie case and that the balance of convenience lay in its favour, the Court observed:

“Irreparable loss and injury which may not be adequately compensated in monetary terms could be suffered by the plaintiff in case immediate ex-parte ad-interim injunction is not granted in its favour.”

The court restrained the defendant and all persons acting on its behalf from manufacturing, selling, advertising or dealing in pharmaceutical preparations under the marks JANTAC, MOXYCROT, BETAJAN, BETAJOX, ZIVHIT, RANIJOX, PARAJAN or any other mark or packaging deceptively similar to the plaintiff's marks ZINETAC, AUGMENTIN, CALPOL and BETNESOL.

The defendant has been directed to file its written statement along with an affidavit of admission and denial of documents within 30 days of service of summons.

The matter will next be taken up before the Joint Registrar on May 14, 2026 and before the Court on September 3, 2026.