A week after Salman Khan unveiled his shopping portal "khanmarketonline.com", a traders' body on Sunday urged the actor to withdraw the "Khan Market" name to protect the brand name of Delhi's iconic market, an IANS report states.
The Confederation of All India Traders in a statement said, "CAIT shot up a communication to actor Salman Khan today (Sunday) urging him to withdraw the name of Khan Market from his web portal 'khanmarketonline.com' which he announced on his birthday on December 27, 2015."
The report quotes CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal as saying, "The name chosen by Salman Khan is more deceptive and infringes the rights of traders of Khan Market.
"We will not allow anyone to encroach upon the goodwill earned by traders of the market in the last 65 years."
On his 50th birthday last month, Khan had tweeted,
a gift for my fans . https://t.co/VppaFKHIBH register now for a special treat . and lots more to come .
— Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) December 26, 2015
Thank u for ur bday wishes . Means a lot to me . Aur yeh raha aapka return gift https://t.co/VppaFKq7d7
— Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) December 27, 2015
The Khan Market in Central Delhi was established in 1951 and was recently ranked as the most expensive retail location in India and 24th most expensive worldwide in a report by global real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield.
CAIT said: "A name by custom/practice/usage over a long period of time by a group of persons becomes an intellectual property right of that group of persons is an integral part of principle of natural justice. Accordingly, the first lien of using the name 'Khan Market' lies with traders of Khan Market only."
However, not all traders bodies seem to share the same view.
Anshu Tondon, president of rival group Khan Market Welfare Association, told Hindustan Times, "We do not support this allegation which the other association has raised. Personally, I think they are just blowing things out of proportion. The market has a reputation of its own for years and nothing has been able to spoil it till now."
A Supreme Court advocate told the newspaper that those opposing the actor stand a fighting chance since the Khan Market is an older brand name.