Parle drags Cadbury to high court over Frooti

Disputes over trademark are on the rise in the country. This time it is the turn of Parle Agro, which markets the Frooti brand of mango drink, to drag Cadbury India to the Bombay High Court for using the word fruity on Fruity Gems. The case will come up for a hearing this week.

Parle Agro had sought an ad-interim relief to prevent Cadbury from marketing "Fruity Gems" untill the case is decided. The company argues that Cadbury is not entitled to use the mark "Fruity" on its pack as it would constitute infringment of its trademark "Frooti", under Section 29 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

According to this Section, if the mark of a product is similar to the registered trademark and if it is likely to cause confusion on part of the public or is likely to be taken to have association with the registered trademark, then it constitutes infringement.

Cadbury, on the other hand, defends itself, saying that "Fruity" is used in accord with honest practices in industrial or commercial matters. By virtue of the Section 30 of the Act, the use of mark "fruity" on the product does not affect the registered trade mark of Parle Agro under Section 29 of the Act. Besides, it is seen that the respective products of the two companies fall in different class of the Fourth Schedule of the Trademark Rules Cadbury also says that the word fruity is only descriptive in form and not being used as a trademark.

According to Cadbury spokesperson, "The Bombay High Court has already refused to grant an interim injunction to Parle. Even on appeal to the division bench Parle has not succeeded in getting an injunction against Cadbury.

" He further said: " Fruity is descriptive to show the difference between the normal coated chocolate cadbury gems and the variant, which has a fruit ingredient in it."

The Wadia family of Bombay Dyeing and France's dairy foods maker Groupe Danone have been locked in a battle over biscuit brand Tiger and have landed at a Singapore Court.

A case is open involving candy maker Perfetti Van Melle SpA and Candico involving Big Babol.

"Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) disputes have gone up as Indian companies have become more aware of the value of trademark and its legal aspects. If we look at the increase in number of opposition filed by companies at the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, it would be clear that India Inc has woken up to the IPR regime," said Anuradha Salhotra, partner in law firm Lall, Lahiri & Salhotra.

The brand Cadbury "Gems" was launched in India in 1968. However, its product Cadbury "Fruity Gems was launched recently in 2006. Soon after the launch, Parle Agro had filed a lawsuit against Cadbury claiming the infringment of its trademark "Frooti".

Parle Agro derives a substantial part of its turnover from Frooti, which occupies a market share of about 80 per cent in the mango-based drink segment. The market for fruit based drinks is heating up in India, as studies prove growing preference among people for such drinks over soft drinks.