Banks have taken possession of nine trademarks related to Kingfisher Airlines

Unable to have Vijay Mallya stopped from leaving the country, or cashing in on a $75 million payout from the firm he sold his liquor empire to, a group of banks have taken possession of nine trademarks related to his Kingfisher Airlines, which is at the heart of the entrepreneur's billion dollar debt.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told parliament on Thursday that the lenders, mainly state-run banks, will take every possible action to recover the debt from Mr Mallya.This week, a consortium of 17 banks asked the Supreme Court to ban the flashy entrepreneur from leaving India, only to discover that he travelled abroad last week. A spokesman for UB Group, Mr Mallya's conglomerate, declined to comment on his whereabouts and the trademark seizure but locals in Hertfordshire, to the north of London, where Mr Mallya has a luxury residence, confirmed spotting him.A court's order to stop the 60-year-old from receiving a $75-million settlement reached recently with the UK company, Diageo, to whom he sold his United Spirits, also came too late. Banks said they should get first rights to that money. But yesterday, Diageo confirmed that more than half of the settlement was paid to Mr Mallya last month.Mr Mallya, who built his fortune with Kingfisher beer and is a guarantor to the debt, has been called a 'wilful' defaulter by some banks. He said over the weekend that the he had no intention of running away from creditors to Kingfisher, and was in talks with them over a one-time settlement.The trademarks seized include the "Kingfisher" label, "Flying Models" and "Fly the Good Times", according to a notice in newspapers by the banks' trustee, SBICAP Trustee Co Ltd.Harish Bijoor, a brand consultant, however, called the banks' move a knee-jerk reaction and said there might not be many takers for the trademarks."Who would ever want to run with a label called Kingfisher Airlines?," Mr Bijoor said, adding he did not expect the move to impact India's best-selling beer, Kingfisher.Diageo bought Mr Mallya's United Spirits. However, the company that manufactures Kingfisher beer is United Breweries, and he still has a substantial stake in this company (mostly pledged), though the biggest shareholder is Heineken.