The dispute between Singapore-based multinational Haw Par Bros International Ltd and Surat-based Rangoon Chemical Works Ltd over `passing off of the `Tiger balm was temporarily resolved in the Supreme Court yesterday when the Indian company agreed to make changes in the product design. The Indian product will have the brand name `Flying Tiger Cub, it will have a round bottle instead of the hexagonal shape of the Singapore company, and will drop the Chinese characters on the package.
The High Court had already directed the Indian company to make some changes like making the wings of the tiger on the bottle bigger. The new changes were announced in the court to end the dispute till the trial court decides on all the specific points in the litigation.
Haw Pars main grievance was that the Surat company had adopted the hexagonal shape for the bottle, Chinese language and symbols, the picture of a leaping tiger and other decade-old characteristics of their product which has market in over a hundred countries in Asia. It also claimed that the transborder reputation of a product must be respected. The consumers are confused by the deceptively similar package, it was alleged.