Delhi High Court reserves judgment on Britannia's NutriChoice Digestive Zero appeal

The order directed Britannia to phase out its NutriChoice Digestive Zero stock in present form, within four weeks

A division bench of the Delhi High Court reserved its judgment on Thursday, in an appeal filed by Britannia Industries Ltd. against a September 6 order of a single judge, restraining the company from packaging and selling their NutriChoice Digestive Zero biscuits in its present blue and yellow packaging.

The injunction order, presently under challenge, arises out of a passing off and copyright infringement suit filed by ITC Ltd. against Britannia, alleging that the latter had copied the blue and yellow packaging of ITC's own digestive line, Sunfeast Farmlite ALL GOOD biscuits.

The single judge had restrained the packaging of Britannia's biscuit after holding that the basic requirements of passing off had been satisfied. The order directed Britannia to phase out its NutriChoice Digestive Zero stock in the present form, within a period of four weeks.

In Wednesday's hearing, the bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar heard concluding arguments from both parties before reserving its final determination, but refused to make any modifications to the single judge order in the interim.

Britannia's counsels had requested the court to allow the company to continue to sell the NutriChoice Digestive Zero product in its present packaging, while maintaining accounts of sales, pending the ultimate adjudication.

"Law aside, the fight is in the marketplace and it should be decided there" senior advocate Sudhir Chandra, appearing for Britannia said, in an attempt to convince the court to grant the desired relief.

The counsels for the company had earlier claimed that they were suffering significant financial losses due to the September 6 order, as manufacturing of the product had been stopped as a result.