Six trademark applications for 'Operation Sindoor' were filed on Thursday, a day after India unleashed a barrage of missiles on terror bases in Pakistan in a historic military operation, even as one of the petitions was withdrawn later.
Mumbai resident Mukesh Chetram Agrawal, retired Group Captain Kamal Singh Oberh, Delhi-based lawyer Alok Kothari, Jayaraj T and Uttam raced to trademark 'Operation Sindoor' - codename for the military strikes.
In their petitions, Mr Agrawal and Mr Jayarah also sought a claim on the logo, which was released by the Indian government on Wednesday. As a result, this application has been tagged with the "Vienna Codification" - a classification used when a trademark includes visual elements such as logos or designs, in line with the Vienna Agreement.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) also filed the trademark application but withdrew it later. In a statement, it said the petition was filed inadvertently by a junior person without authorisation
All the applications were filed with the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks under trademark Class 41, which covers services like education, entertainment, film and web series production, cultural activities and language training.
An intellectual property lawyer at Delhi High Court told NDTV that anyone can file for a trademark related to a government operation since there are no such restrictions as per the Trademark Act. "It's always a race - whoever files first has the advantage," the lawyer said.
The Government of India, however, has the right to object under Section 9(1)(A) of the Trademarks Act, which restricts trade marks that may cause deception or are against public interest.
The trademark registration process can take over a year but applicants can pay a fee of ₹40,000 to expedite the process.
Early on Wednesday, the Indian armed forces carried out 24 precision missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), including Muridke and Bahawalpur - strongholds of terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), respectively. The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir's Anantnag district that claimed 26 lives - 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen - on April 22.
On Thursday, the Defence Ministry said the armed forces foiled attempts by the Pakistani military to engage a number of military targets across 15 cities in Northern and Western India using drones and missiles on Wednesday night. A Pakistani air defence system in Lahore was also destroyed, it added.
