Madras High Court Strikes Down Wrongful Copyright Entry Over 'Sagar Homeo Stores' Logo
The Madras High Court has ordered the cancellation of a copyright entry that wrongly gave a rival businessman ownership of the artistic logo used by the long-established “Sagar Homeo Stores,” holding that the record had been incorrectly created despite the store's earlier trademark and copyright registrations. A single bench of Justice N Senthilkumar passed the order on November 28,...
The Madras High Court has ordered the cancellation of a copyright entry that wrongly gave a rival businessman ownership of the artistic logo used by the long-established “Sagar Homeo Stores,” holding that the record had been incorrectly created despite the store's earlier trademark and copyright registrations.
A single bench of Justice N Senthilkumar passed the order on November 28, 2025, ruling that the 2009 registration obtained by Mir Mukkaram Ali, a competing homeopathic businessman, was inconsistent with the store's prior statutory rights. The court directed that the entry be expunged from the Register of Copyrights.
The family behind Sagar Homeo Stores told the court that they have held a registered trademark for the words “SAGAR HOMEO STORES” since 1991, and that the artistic elements of their logo, including the stylised letters “S & H,” were registered under copyright in 2007. They produced trademark search reports, extracts from the Copyright Register and copies of the logo to demonstrate longstanding use.
Despite these earlier registrations, the Copyright Office issued a copyright certificate in 2009 to the rival businessman for the same artistic work. The petitioners argued that this violated Section 45 of the Copyright Act, which requires applicants seeking copyright protection for an artistic mark to furnish a trademark search certificate confirming that no identical or similar mark already exists. They contended that this statutory safeguard was ignored, resulting in a wrongful entry.
The court noted that Ali did not file a reply despite repeated opportunities and was eventually proceeded ex parte in July 2025.
After reviewing the record, the Court held that Sagar Homeo Stores had clearly established prior trademark and copyright rights as well as continuous use of the logo.
“As the petitioners have made out a case that their trade mark is registered with the artistic work and the same is used by the respondent which is evident from Exs.P1 to P9 and the respondent's name is also entered as the owner of the artistic work of the registered trademark which stands in the name of the petitioners, the Registrar of Copyrights is directed to expunge the name of the respondent,” the court said.
Allowing the petition, the High Court directed the Registrar of Copyrights to remove the copyright registration issued in 2009 in favour of the rival businessman for the “Sagar Homeo Stores” artistic work.
Case Title: Mir Mahamood Ali v. Mir Mukkaram Ali
Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 458
Case Number: (T)OP(CR) No.3 of 2024
For Petitioners: Advocate Mohd Yaqoob Kafeel