By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, May 24 (IANS): The trademark war between 35-year-old Rs 400 crore medical syringes brand Dispovan owned by Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices and the Vanguard Diagnostics' Dipcovan antibody detection kit has ended amicably, said a top official of the former company.

"The dispute has ended amicably. Vanguard Diagnostics has informed us that it has withdrawn its application from the Trade Marks registry," Rajiv Nath, Managing Director, Hindustan Syringes, told IANS.

Though both the products are different in nature, they are classified as medical devices which may result in confusion at the marketplace, Nath had told IANS earlier.

He had also said the confusion would happen as Vanguard Diagnostics will be manufacturing and marketing the Covid-19 antibody detection kit and people may associate the product as belonging to the house of Hindustan Syringes, the makers of Dispovan syringes.

For Nath, the stakes were high as the Dispovan brand of syringes fetches his company about Rs 400 crore.

Last Friday, the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) had said that one of its labs, the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), along with Vanguard Diagnostics has developed an antibody detection-based kit named Dipcovan.

Perhaps the brand name Dipcovan was arrived at by combining DIP from DIPAS, Co from Covid and Van from Vanguard Diagnostics.

New Delhi-based Vanguard Diagnostics will commercially launch the product during the first week of June 2021.

Nath had written to DRDO pointing out its brand sounding similar to that of syringe brand Dispovan.