Every year, World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated on the 26th Day of April, to preach the value of Intellectual Property Rights all around the globe. Every business starts with an idea. An entrepreneur imagines a product or service he could provide that will help improve the lives of his customers while hopefully providing him with the opportunity to create a brighter financial future for himself and his family.
In the current pandemic, we at Intellect Goodwill believe that ‘Innovation means never stop Learning’. Innovation requires us to go into unknown and create something out of nothing. Despite lockdown and not much market volatility, some companies still found ways to forge ahead. With the market being disrupted by the lockdown, there is a need for MSMEs to rethink/reinvent their product strategy, its differentiators, distribution models, product pricing and so on. While there is a visible dip in the discretionary spending of consumers, there is also a marked shift in consumer preferences which can be leveraged. It is pertinent to mention that it was Research and Development Sector which proved out to be the turning point in the current pandemic. Hence, on the occasion of World IP Day, Intellect Goodwill is organizing a FREE WEBINAR on the following topics for the benefit of MSMEs:
- Awareness of IPRs in the MSME Sector – Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, Designs, Geographical Indications, Trade Secrets, etc.
- How to encash (a) idea and invention through patents; (b) brand goodwill through trademarks and (c) your creativity through Copyrights?
- Transfer of IPRs, Compulsory Licensing, Opportunity for Research & Development in the MSME Sector
Registration Form: Google Form
Date: 26.04.2021
Time: 11am – 1pm
Venue: Google Meet
Language: English & Hindi
For more details, please drop us a mail at intellectgoodwill@gmail.com or visit http://trademarkiso.com/.
About Speaker –
Rakesh Soni, M.Sc., LL.B. (Hons.) , MPA, PGDHRM
Registered Patent & Trade Mark Attorney, Facilitator for Startup, IPR & Patents
Intercontinental Great Brands, a unit of snacking major Mondelez International which makes Oreo Biscuits has brought up a trademark infringement case against FMCG giant Parle Products in Delhi High Court over the design of Parle’s Fabio biscuits. Intercontinental Great Brands has filed a trademark infringement case in the Delhi HC alleging that the design of Parle’s Fabio biscuit is ‘deceptively’ similar to that of Oreo. Intercontinental Great Brands LLC is a US-based company that manufactures and supplies packaged food products and is a unit of Mondelez International. Biscuits and snacks maker Parle Products launched Fabio biscuits in January 2020 in two flavours, while Oreo was launched in India by Mondelez nearly 10 years ago in 2011 marking its foray into the biscuit category in India. The colour scheme of the logo of both biscuits are also similar (white and blue), as is also depicted below:
Fabio does bear a resemblance to Oreos, being two dark biscuits sandwiching a white cream filling. Taking it a step further, Fabio biscuits are also stamped with a filigreed design, while both cookies sport blue and white branding. Parle Products launched Fabio biscuits in January 2020 in two flavours (Vanilla and Chocolate Cream), while Oreo was launched in India by Mondelēz in 2011. Oreo – introduced in 1912 by Nabisco, which later became Mondelēz International – is touted to be the largest selling premium cookie brand in the world, hitting $3.1bn in sales in 2019. Mondelēz says India is among Oreo’s top-five markets by volume and the fourth largest market for the cookie brand in the world. This is the latest case of alleged infringement in the highly competitive biscuit market in India.
The court will be hearing the matter on April 12. As per the documents, Mondelez International had asked for an earlier hearing date but the High Court has stuck to April 12. In similar cases last year, Britannia Industries had dragged Future Group and ITC to court over trademark infringement allegations for their various biscuit products.
Prior Cases of Trademark infringement in the Biscuits Industry:
IPR Infringement cases are not new to India’s biscuit industry. One year ago in February 2020, Britannia dragged Future Consumer to court alleging that the packaging of Future Consumer’s ‘Tasty Treat’ brand was deceptively similar to Britannia’s biscuits. In December 2020, Britannia moved Delhi High Court against the packaging of ITC’s Sunfeast Veda Digestive and Sunfeast 5-Seed Digestive biscuits, which it alleged were deceptively similar to its own Nutri Choice Hi-Fibre and Nutri Choice Digestive biscuits’ packaging. Prior to this, in 2016, ITC moved Delhi HC as well claiming trademark and copyright infringement by Britannia. It alleged that the packaging of Britannia’s Nutrichoice Digestive Zero biscuits are similar to that of ITC’s Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive All Good Biscuit. Britannia had told the court at the time that it was willing to consider changing the colour scheme of the packaging. ITC won this legal battle with the Delhi High Court asking Britannia not to sell its digestive biscuits, NutriChoice Zero.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency of the Indian government. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world analytic products as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of any Indian government State.
The author is a 3rd-year law student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune.
