Cola giant Pepsico India Holdings has approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to use the pictorial display of 'snow-capped mountain' on its packaged drinking water 'Aquafina'.
A bench headed by Justice Dalveer Bhandari, while issuing notice to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), allowed it to use the label showing snow-capped mountain till July 21, the date fixed for final disposal of the petition.
Pepsico has challenged the Delhi High Court judgement that asked it to remove 'a squiggly cartoon like depiction of a mountain range' and also add the phrase 'as per BIS standard' below the phrase 'purity guaranteed' on the label within six months from the date of the impugned order. The time to incorporate the changes expires on May 19.
While stating that BIS cannot override the decision of the Trademark Authority, Pepsico senior counsel K K Venugopal said that the latter had taken a decision to register its trademark and nothing stopped it from refusing to register the same if the mark was of such a nature, so as to deceive the public or cause confusion.
The company's trademark was registered in more than 122 countries, including India, he added.