The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition of Allied Blenders & Distillers P Ltd, which sells its whisky under ‘Officer’s Choice’ brand name, seeking to stop a rival firm from using ‘Original Choice’ label.
A bench headed by Justice S B Sinha, while dismissing the Allied Blenders & Distillers’ (ABDL) plea, upheld the Delhi High Court ruling that allowed Karnataka-based Paul P John to sell India-made foreign liquor under ‘Original Choice’ label. ABDL’s Senior Counsel Harish Salve said that Paul had admitted to prior use of the appellant’s product for over a decade before introducing its brand in the market.
Further, Paul clearly failed to provide a legible basis as to the choice of the name ‘Original Choice’, which was apparently similar to the ‘Officers Choice’ mark, he added. While, on one hand, the High Court held that it would refrain from commenting on whether ‘Original Choice’ was deceptively similar to ‘Officer’s Choice’, on the other hand, it analysed the issue in a very cryptic manner and its finding grossly prejudiced its case, ABDL stated.
While permitting Paul P John to sell whisky under the brand name ‘Original Choice’, the High Court had asked it to maintain accounts of the sales made.
