Fight over ‘Parle’ biscuits reaches HC

The Times of India Delhi 8 February 2008 Page 27

It’s a bitter fight to protect their sweets. On Thursday it just got prolonged a bit. Claiming proprietary rights over the Parle trademark, Ajay and Vijay Chauhan’s Parle Products has dragged Prakash Chauhan’s Parle Agro to the Bombay high court. Apparently, to prevent the latter from selling biscuits or confectionery under the ‘Parle’ or ‘Parle Confi’ mark. The company, which has a large share of the biscuit market is sour that Parle Agro, which deals in bottled water and beverages is entering their turf. Ajay’s company is demanding damages worth Rs 20 crore for the loss caused to it by the other Parle company.

On Thursday when the matter came up for the hearing before the Bombay high court, Justice D Y Chandrachud said he would like to hear it at one go. But it has now been deferred to February 25 as hearing took too long. The biscuit makers said that the ‘Parle’ trademark has come to be ‘‘exclusively associated with them by the public’’. They said that their ‘‘enviable reputation’’ and decades of goodwill is being ‘‘maliciously’’ misused by the other company. They were ‘‘shocked’’ to learn that recently the beverage makers entered their domain of biscuit making under the trade mark ‘Parle Confi’ without their ‘‘consent’’ and began ‘‘passing-off ’’ their new biscuits on the longstanding goodwill of the original biscuit-makers. ‘‘If any adverse publicity is generated from poor quality of the defendant’s good, it is bound to spoil the impeccable reputation of Parle Products,’’ they complained. Parle Products has asked HC to appoint, as an interim measure, a court receiver ‘‘with all the powers to enter any premises, if required to destroy the biscuits from Parle Agro premises.’’

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