Sensex and sensitivity in Bombay

By Prachi Pinglay
BBC News, Mumbai

Trademark legislation in India changed in 2003

India's most important financial market, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is facing a legal battle over its use of the word Sensex.

Sensex is an abbreviation of BSE Sensitive Index, the most important indicator of stock values in India.

The BSE has applied to register Sensex as its own trademark word.

But an Indian financial analyst, Deepak Mohoni, is disputing the application. He says he invented the word in 1989. The BSE is not commenting on the case.

'Cumbersome'

Mr Mohoni told the BBC that he had several articles and reports dating back to 1989 and the early 1990s to prove that he was using the term well before the Bombay Stock Exchange started using it.

Mr Mohoni says his business will suffer if he loses the case

"I used to find the official term 'BSE Sensitive Index' too cumbersome. So I... started using Sensex. It later caught on and everyone started using it."

His case is backed up by his editor in those days, R Jagannathan, who is now managing editor of the Mumbai daily newspaper, DNA.

"He was writing about the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index and he wanted to shorten it as it was quite a mouthful," Mr Jagannathan says.

"Even the brokers never got it right. They used to refer to it as sensity index or some other words. Once he started using it in other articles, other business papers also picked it up."

'Cease and desist'

Mr Mohoni says that it never occurred to him to register the word as his trademark. Such a move was not even possible in India until a change in trademark law in 2003.

A few months ago he was told that the BSE had applied to register the word Sensex as its trademark.

That he says, led him to lodge his own application.

Finally he says he was driven to take court action when lawyers representing the BSE contacted him and asked him to withdraw his application, saying it was not justified.

Mr Mohoni has filed a suit in a court in Pune, where he is based, in which he claims that Sensex is a word that is "invented, coined and owned by the plaintiff since or earlier than 1989".

The petition also mentions the legal notice sent by the BSE, which asks him "to cease and desist from using the said mark or any word which is identical or similar to such word".

Mr Mohoni says that if the BSE wins the case his consultancy services will suffer.

The head of Corporate Affairs at the BSE, Kalyan S Bose, said: "Since the matter is sub-judice, we will not like to offer any comments at present."

The case is likely to turn into a tedious legal battle once the courts resume work after their current holidays.