Kerala notice over KSRTC acronym takes Karnataka by surprise

Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) were taken by surprise as the Kerala government issued a notice over the acronym trademark. Both state-run bus corporations in Karnataka and Kerala are identified by the same acronym – KSRTC.

Antony Raju, Kerala transport minister, issued a press statement on Wednesday through his office that the acronym KSRTC belongs to Kerala RTC. Raju said, “Transport corporation in Kerala and Karnataka which were commonly used by the name ‘KSRTC’ can be used only by Kerala for now. In 2014, Karnataka issued a notice to Kerala not to use the name ‘KSRTC’. Later, the then Kerala RTC CMD approached the Registrar of Trademarks and they have now issued a favourable order.” Kerala RTC manager director Biju Prabhakar said they will soon send out a notice to Karnataka.

Karnataka deputy CM and transport minister Laxman Savadi said, “We have not received the order copy yet. We will discuss with our legal team and explore all possibilities once we receive it,” he said.

KSRTC officials said the transport body plans to take all required steps to retain the rights over the acronym bans are contemplating to challenge the order.

Both the states have been locked in a battle over the trademark ownership in the Registrar of Trademarks under the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks.

While Karnataka registered the trademark name ‘KSRTC’ in 2013, Kerala stated that it started transport operations under the same name in 1965 and Karnataka began operations only in 1973.

In 1948, the Mysore Government Road Transport Department (MGRTD) was formed and became KSRTC in 1973. Karnataka had issued notices to Kerala over the use of the ‘KSRTC’ acronym in 2014 after availing the patent. Kerala has been running its state transport body as ‘Kerala RTC’ since.