Deceptive marketing practices: CCP imposes Rs 1m penalty on Tara Crop Sciences Private Limited

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has issued an order imposing a penalty of PKR 1 million on M/s Tara Crop Sciences Private Limited for deceptive marketing practices in violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010.
The order also requires M/s Tara Crop Sciences Private Limited to cease solitary use of the term 'Tara' in its franchise network named 'Tara Zarai Markaz'. The order has been issued by a bench comprising Vadiyya Khalil, Chairperson, Dr Shahzad Ansar, Member (OFT and Advocacy), and Ikram Ul Haque Qureshi, Member (Cartels & Trade Abuses, and Legal).
The CCP initiated an enquiry into the matter after receiving a complaint from M/s Agritech Limited wherein it was alleged that its brand 'Tara' was being used fraudulently and illegally by Tara Crop Sciences to market its products and business. The company was accused of dissemination of misleading information which was capable of harming the business interests of M/s Agritech Limited.
A show cause notice was issued on the basis of the enquiry report, which found M/s Tara Crop Sciences Private Limited to be in prima facie violation of Section 10 of the Act. The order denotes that with regards to trademark disputes, the granting of proprietary rights in intellectual property remains the sole domain of the Intellectual Property Organisation and CCP cannot make any determinations in this regard. Under section 10 (2) (d) of the Competition Act, CCP's mandate is limited to the protection of registered trademarks only. CCP, however, found M/s Tara Crop Sciences Private Limited in violation of Section 10 (1) read with Sections 10 (2) (a) and (b) of the Act for disseminating false and misleading information by using M/s Agritech Limited's brand 'Tara' in its franchise network. The order found that the misleading use of the brand 'tara' was capable of harming the business interests of M/s Agritech Limited and deceiving the general public.
The order, therefore, directed M/s Tara Crop Sciences Private Limited to ensure that its franchise network is renamed so as to make it perfectly clear that its business has no connection with M/s Agritech Limited's brand or products, and to file a compliance report with the Registrar of the CCP within a period of thirty (30) days from the date of issuance of the order. CCP has geared up enforcement actions against undertakings that harm consumers and their competitors by engaging in deceptive marketing practices.-PR