The Madras High Court on Monday (August 18, 2025) refused to grant interim relief in a civil suit filed against Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and its president, C. Joseph Vijay for having allegedly used a “deceptively” similar colour combination in his party flag as that of Thondai Mandala Saandror Dharma Paribalana Sabai, a registered trust based in Mylapore, Chennai.
Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy rejected an application filed by the trustee G.B. Pachaiyappan to restrain TVK and its leader from using the party flag. The judge however left open all issues to be decided during the final hearing of a civil suit filed jointly by the trust as well as its trustee alleging infringement of its registered trademark with identical colour combination.
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Earlier, senior counsel Vijay Narayan, assisted by K. Gowtham Kumar, argued on behalf of TVK that the issue of trademark infringement would not arise at all in the case of a political party flag. TVK does not use the flag in the course of any trade. Therefore, the very premise for the filing of the instant civil suit was flawed and it was a wrong understanding of the Trademarks Act of 1999, he said.
