The Delhi High Court has rejected a claim of exclusivity by global alcoholic giant Pernod Ricard over usage of the word 'Imperial', thus allowing other liquor makers to use it in their respective brands.
Passing its judgement on a petition filed by Indian firms Rhizome Distillers and Durga Liquors, a division bench of Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice V K Jain held that Pernod Ricard does not have any exclusivity over the word 'Imperial' which it uses for its popular liquor brands, Imperial Blue and Imperial Red.
"The word 'Imperial' is used by several other manufacturers of alcohol such as Imperial Tribute, Imperial Famous, Tetley's Imperial, Imperial Hero Five Whisky...All these parties have to co-exist," the court said.
"In view of the widespread use of word 'Imperial', specially in the alcohol business, it is not possible to accept the contention of Mr Chandra (Pernod Ricard counsel) that the word Imperial has attained secondary meaning which would justify exclusivity," it said.
The bench allowed Rhizome Distillers and Durga Liquors, to market their whisky 'Imperial Gold' under the condition that the word 'Rhizome' be prominently displayed and change packaging to avoid similarity with Pernod Ricard's Royal Stag brand.
