Hind Lever Obtains Stay Till August 17 In Kwality Case

Hindustan Lever (HLL) yesterday obtained a stay from the Calcutta High Court on the order passed by a trial court which allowed Patna-based H I Dairy and Agro Products to sell Kwality ice-cream in West Bengal, Bihar and Rourkela.

The division bench consisting of Justice Ruma Pal and Justice Basudeva Panigrahi ordered a stay till August 17 when the court will hear the case again. HLL had filed an appeal challenging the order of the trial court passed on August 5 allowing its estranged eastern region franchisee H I Dairy to sell Kwality ice-creams in HLL's territory.

Gautam Chakraborty and Sudipta Sarkar, counsels for HLL argued that the trial court had permitted H I Dairy to sell ice-creams under the brand name `Kwality' outside territories demarcated in an agreement between Kwality Ice-cream, (India) (KICIL) and H I Dairy in 1989, when KICIL was the owner of the Kwality brand. The agreement was terminated in 1993 and H I Dairy had not challenged the termination at any point of time.

 

The HLL counsels further argued that H I Dairy had accepted the termination by encashing a cheque of Rs 8.5 lakh issued by KICIL. HLL claimed that the territory of selling Kwality ice-creams by H I Dairy is restricted to the districts of north Bihar only. It was alleged by HLL that H I Dairy has infringed upon the Kwality trademark, which is the sole property of HLL.

HLL argued that it has the exclusive rights to use and sell Kwality ice-creams and that H I Dairy by using the Kwality trade mark in West Bengal and Bihar has caused huge financial losses to the company. H I Dairy, in defence, stated that KICIL had granted exclusive rights to manufacture and market Kwality ice-creams in West Bengal, Bihar and Rourkela in Orissa and that the agreement still holds good.

Earlier, HLL filed a suit in the trial court against H I Dairy for alleged infringement of the Kwality trade mark and sought the court's order restraining H I Dairy from manufacturing and selling ice-cream under the Kwality brand. The trail court passed an order favouring H I Dairy. Under the order H I Dairy could sell ice creams under the Kwality name in West Bengal, Bihar and Rourkela.