Both Kerala and Karnataka are fighting over K. Sounds strange? Yes. Both the states are fighting over the use of K for their respective state transport corporations. Karnataka calls its state transport service as Karnataka State Transport Corporation and Kerala calls its service as Kerala transport service. The acronyms for both are KSRTC. Since 2014, a fight is raging between Kerala and Karnataka as to who should use the acronym KSRTC.
There is a reason for fighting over such small things. The Karnataka SRTC has registered both KSRTC.com and KSRTC.in as its online domains. So, many Keralites are booking tickets through these websites thinking they represent Kerala transport service. As a result, Kerala is using heavily in terms of revenue.
In 2014, Karnataka had got KSRTC registered with the Trade Marks Registrar. Not just that. It even served a notice to Kerala SRTC not to use the acronym.. Kerala had approached the Trade Marks Registrar, but its appeal was rejected. Thus began a tussle for K. Later both went to the court. Kerala had contended that it was using KSRTC even before Karnataka has set up its transport corporation.
As a proof of this, Kerala government has submitted clips from a film called “Kannur Deluxe”, where in a bus is shown plying between Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram. It said it has the first user advantage as per Section 34 of the Trade Marks Act.
Since Karnataka is using KSRTC.com and KSRTC.in, Kerala is using KeralaSRTC.com for its online ticket booking portal. As Karnataka is using both the portals, Kerala is losing heavily in the inter-state services. So, the fight over K continues even as both the states say this is not a fight between the two states.
