New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed Britannia to use its earlier blue and yellow coloured package for selling its ‘Nutri Choice Digestive Zero’ biscuits.
The order by a bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar came on Britannia Industries Ltd’s plea challenging a single judge’s decision which had said the blue and yellow package was “deceptively similar” to that of ITC’s ‘Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive All Good’.
The bench allowed the appeal, saying that in the short span from 2016, when ITC first started selling its digestive biscuits in a package of blue-yellow colour, the combination could not have become identified with the company.
“It is also clear from the discussion that the combination of yellow and blue as used by ITC for its Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive All Good biscuits has not become so identified with its goods as to become a badge of its goodwill,” the bench said in its 23-page judgement.
“We are of the view that ITC was not entitled to an interim injunction and, therefore, the order (of single judge) is set aside,” it said.
The single judge had on September 6 last year granted relief to ITC Ltd by stopping rival Britannia Industries Ltd from selling its ‘Nutri Choice Zero’ digestive biscuits in a package having the blue-yellow colour combination.
Britannia had, thereafter, approached the larger bench against the order, saying it was “erroneous” as the single judge had not considered the fact that their packaging was different from that of ITC’s.
The single judge’s order had come on a plea filed by ITC Ltd seeking to restrain Britannia from violating its rights in packaging/trade dress of ‘Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive-All Good’ biscuits by allegedly using a “deceptively and confusingly” similar trade dress for ‘Nutri Choice Digestive Zero’ biscuits.
