Microsoft sued by Azure Knowledge Corp for trademark infringement

Azure Knowledge Corporation which is an Information Technology (IT) company based out of Ahmedabad, has sued software major Microsoft Corporation (MS) and its Indian arm Microsoft India for infringement of its trademark Azure.

The suit was filed in the City Civil Court in Ahmedabad.

Azure Knowledge Corporation has also moved the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and filed a petition seeking cancellation of the registration of Windows Azure, which Microsoft uses for its products.

The company has stated that in its petition that it has been using Azure as a trade name as well as its trademark for a variety of businesses since 1996, and has also registered the mark Azure under various classes. According to the company, it got its trademark and label mark registered in 1998 with its user date from 1996.

Further, the company stated in its plea that Microsoft introduced the mark Azure in India for the first time only in 2014, and has been selling its Cloud Services Platform under the name since then.

Azure Knowledge Corporation has sought the court’s direction to restrain Microsoft from using the mark “Azure” so that the Indian company is not forced to surrender its legal and statutory rights. The former also said that it has spent a substantial amount in promotion and marketing of Azure mark and the logo over the years.

In the suit, Azure Knowledge Corporation has sought the court’s direction to restrain Microsoft from using the mark Azure, Microsoft Azure, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Cloud For All, Azure Sphere, Azure Brain Wave, and other similar names, as well as the domain name azure.microsoft.com, and for the rendition of accounts of profit “illegally earned” by use of the trademark “Azure”.