Chennai: AIADMK seeks to restrain TTV Dhinakaran from using similar flag
Chennai: The AIADMK party has approached the Madras high court to restrain TTV Dhinakaran and his party from using any flag deceptively similar to AIADMK’s flag. Dhinakaran had floated his own outfit named Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam on March 15 and unveiled the outfit’s flag which has former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s image embossed in the centre and using the same black, white and red combinations of the AIADMK flag.
The civil suit filed by AIADMK party’s joint coordinator Edappadi K.Palaniswami also sought Rs 25 lakh as damages from Dinakaran for causing damage to the goodwill of the AIADMK by such use of the flag and the colour combination.
Since the plaintiff is an association of persons, permission to sue on behalf of the AIADMK, a separate leave application, seeking permission of the court was moved on Friday. Justice C.V.Karthikeyan allowed the application and directed the party to issue notices of the suit in an English newspaper and a regional newspaper and posted the matter to March 20.
According to Palaniswami, the two leaves and tri-colour flag were the identities of the members of the AIADMK for over 45 years. For over 45 years, the colour combination has become synonymous with the AIADMK and its members.
A member of the general public who sees this colour combination in any political messaging will immediately make an association of such message with the AIADMK. Such was the power of four decades of use of this combination to signify the AIADMK and its leadership and activities. The colours black, red and white have no particular significance. It was by consistent use of the same in the AIADMK’s activities over the decades that the AIADMK has given this combination an association with the AIADMK and its activities, he added.
Dhinakaran was an erstwhile member of the party, who was expelled by the general secretary J.Jayalalithaa on December 19, 2011. The Delhi high court has only permitted him to use “pressure cooker” symbol and not the AIADMK’s name or flag.
If Dhinakaran was permitted to use the flag and the unique colour combinations of the AIADMK in any deceptively misleading flag and having acquired secondary meaning through four decades of consistent use, Dhinkaran would cause confusion amongst the public. Moreover, his proposed use of the unique colour combination was intended to piggyback on the goodwill and reputation of the AIADMK acquired through four decades of hard work, seven successful terms of being in power in the state and doing service for the public, he added.
