Court tells Britannia to change packaging style for new biscuit

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed Britannia Industries Ltd to stop using the current packaging style for its "Nutri Choice Digestive Zero" biscuits and phase out the existing stocks in four weeks on the complaint of rival ITC Ltd.

Justice S. Muralidhar, in an interim order, said: "A market leader like Britannia can certainly eat into the market share of a relatively smaller player like ITC in the biscuit trade by adopting a deceptive variant of the latter's get up and trade dress but the converse may not be true."

ITC alleged the Britannia's style and packaging for the biscuit was "deceptively" similar to its "Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive - All Good" biscuits launched in February 2016, while Britannia came out its product. Both brand of biscuits are currently sold in a blue and yellow packaging.

In its order, the court, however, said Britannia can adopt any packaging which is distinctively different from the packaging that is currently used by ITC, which claimed that Britannia's packaging for the biscuit is an imitation of its packaging for its product and when placed next to each other, they are indistinguishable to the unwary customer.

"The new entrant with a product that enjoys a growing popularity might require protection," said the court.

--IANS

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