Two trademark applications filed for Cockroach Janta Party as satire movement gains momentum online

Two trademark applications have been filed for the phrase ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ – a satirical social media movement that emerged last week following recent remarks by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kan.t during a hearing at the Supreme Court, legal news agency LiveLaw reported on May 21.

The first application bearing Application No. 7737937 was filed by Azim Adambhai Jam for the word mark “COCKROACH JANTA PARTY”. The second, Application No. 7741481, was filed by Akhand Swaroop for “Cockroach Janta Party”. Both apps are currently showing “Formality Chk Pass” status.

A trademark application is a formal legal request filed with a government authority (such as the Intellectual Property Office of India) to register a unique brand identifier. This gives the applicant exclusive legal ownership of the name, logo, slogan or symbol and prevents others from using it in the market.

News agency PTI said there were three requests, but there were not many details about the third request.

India’s largest political campaign on the Internet

Five days after posting an online campaign with an unofficial party name, Janta cockroach party (CJP), has become one of India’s biggest political campaigns on the Internet in recent years.

The party has 6 million registrations CJP’s Instagram account has crossed 14 million followers, many millions more than Bharatiya Janata Party – the world’s largest political party in terms of physical membership. BJP has 8.7 million followers on Instagram.

However, CJP’s X handle with 200k followers was denied in India in response to a legal request on 21 May. The creators came up with another handle on X, which already has more than 40 thousand followers.

A satirical movement on social media following the recent remarks made by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant during a Supreme Court hearing. The hashtag #CockroachJanataParty gained traction on social media after the Chief Justice, while hearing the matter last week, observed that unemployed youth were turning to activism through media, social media and RTIs to cockroaches.

The CJI later clarified that his comments were aimed at people joining professions with fake degrees.

The online campaign was launched by Abhijeet Dipke on May 16. Dipke has just completed his Masters in Public Relations from Boston University in the US.

(With input from LiveLaw)