Institute of Legal and Management Studies

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court to bar the trademark registration of “Operation Sindoor”, the name given for India's military operations against the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan.

The petitioner Dev Ashish Dubey has filed the writ petition against 4 applicants who made an application being Application TM-1 under Class 41 for the registration of the Trademark under the name and style "Operation Sindoor" with the trademark registry. Class 41 covers education and entertainment services.

These applicants include (1) Mukesh Chetram Agrawal(Mumbai); (2) Group Captain Kamal Singh Obreh (Retd)(J&K); (3) Alok Kothari(Delhi); (4) Jayraj T (Kerala), and (4) Uttam(Gujarat). The applications were filed with the Trademark Registries at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

Citing the concerns over misusing the public sentiment attached to the ongoing conflict and the Indian Military's efforts in the Operation, the petition states:

"The Operation Sindoor involves the emotions of not only of the country man but also of those who have sacrificed their life for the country and in the instant killing of innocent civilians in Pahalgam Terror Attack on 22.04.2025 have sparked nation wide outrage."

"The said operation under the Operation Sindoor should not be allowed to be misused for commercial exploitation by the Respondent No. 10 to 14 who only want to take an advantage of the public emotion for their own commercial gain."

The plea also stresses that as per S.9 of the TM Act, such an issuance of a Trademark will not be allowed.

"Needless to say that even otherwise the registration of the said name under the name and style Operation Sindoor cannot be allowed under Section 9 of the Trademark Act, 1999"

Notably, Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries had also moved an application before the Trade Marks Registry on Wednesday (May 7) seeking registration of 'Operation Sindoor' as a work mark. After this caused a lot of public outrage, Reliance Industries announced that they had withdrawn the application and an official statement was issued citing that the application was mistakenly filed by a junior employee without official approval by the company.

The petitioner has sought the following reliefs :

a) Issue a writ of mandamus or other appropriate writ order or direction directing the Respondent No. 6 to 9 not to allow registration of Trademark under name and style "Operation Sindoor" filed by the Respondent No. 10 to 14;

b) Issue a writ of mandamus or other appropriate writ, order and direction directing the Respondent No. 6 to 9 to remove all the application for registration of Trademark filed by the Respondent No. 10 to 14 under the name and style "Operation Sindoor";

The plea has been filed with the assistance of AOR Om Prakash Parihar and Advocate Dushyant Tiwari.

Case Details : DEV ASHISH DUBEY v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.