In a significant development, tractor major TAFE (Tractors and Farm Equipment) has received “injunctive reliefs” from the Madras High Court in its ongoing legal dispute with former partner AGCO over brand ownership rights of Massey Ferguson.
TAFE had filed a civil suit before the Madras High Court against AGCO’s subsidiary Massey Ferguson Corporation.
TAFE’s position in the suit is that the Massey Ferguson brand and trademarks are exclusively owned by TAFE in India and the company is seeking a declaration on this issue. TAFE therefore “sought interim injunctions restraining AGCO’s Massey Ferguson Corp and their representatives from interfering with TAFE’s exclusive use of the MF brands/trademarks in any manner and from representing themselves as the owner/proprietor/rights holder etc of the Massey Ferguson brands / trademarks pending disposal of the suit,” said the company in a statement.
The Madras High Court, after hearing detailed submissions from both parties, by an ad-interim order pronounced on October 17, 2024, has granted “injunctive reliefs in favour of TAFE”. The details of the order passed by the court are expected shortly.
TAFE and its US-based long-term partner AGCO Corporation are locked in a brand spat regarding the use of the Massey Ferguson brand in India.
The American agri-equipment major has ‘terminated’ several agreements with TAFE including the licence agreement of the Massey Ferguson brand, a distribution agreement for India, Nepal and Bhutan and an intellectual property license agreement for the entire SAARC region (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan).
This comes after more than six decades of a commercial relationship between the two companies.
“AGCO’s global brand website has historically, for six decades, made no mention of the Massey Ferguson brand in the context of India, Nepal and Bhutan having ceded the entire territory to TAFE since the take-over of Massey Ferguson India in 1960,” TAFE had said in its statement. AGCO for its part blamed “inappropriate and unauthorised actions” by its partner as the reason for the termination of the agreements. As a result, both AGCO and TAFE opted for legal action.
