New Delhi: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has sought international trademark protection for ‘Charkha’ symbol used on khadi products.
The commission is the registered proprietor of over a hundred trademark registrations, including the symbol of ‘Charkha’ in India and other countries like Russia, China, Germany, Australia, UK and Bhutan, the MSME ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
These trademarks and symbols, it said, have been misused time and again by private players.
“In an initiative to prevent such misuse any further, KVIC has taken up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and Permanent Mission of India at UN, Geneva seeking international trademark protection of symbol of ‘Charkha’ under the Paris Convention,” it said.
An article of the convention protects armorial bearings, flags and other state emblems as well as official signs and hallmarks of the states.
The signs published with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) under this act are prevented from being registered or used as trademarks, across the world, without authorization, it said.
The commission has written to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal seeking his intervention to expedite the matter.