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Synopsis

The Madras High Court recently refused to interfere in a restraining order against ITC Limited's sale of "Sunfeast Mom's Magic Butter Cookies" in a blue wrapper reminiscent of Britannia Good Day biscuits.

The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy, however, permitted ITC to deplete its existing stock packaged in the disputed blue wrap.

Britannia had approached the court, asserting that ITC, by adopting an identical blue trade dress/wrapper, sought to exploit Britannia's goodwill. Britannia argued that ITC, historically packaging its product in red, recently introduced a blue wrapper in South India, aiming for unfair gain.

Britannia sought a permanent injunction, the surrender of offending materials, an account of sales, and damages amounting to Rs 65 Lakh. On the other hand, ITC contended that it had used a red wrapper since 2020 and switched to blue following an industry trend associated with butter and dairy products.

ITC argued that the wrappers were dissimilar and would not confuse consumers. They claimed that Britannia filed the suit to impede their growing sales.

However, a single judge bench, finding ITC's explanation for the abrupt color change lacking, had restrained them from using the blue wrapper.

In the appeal, before the division bench, ITC argued that Britannia couldn't claim proprietary rights over the color blue under relevant laws. They maintained that a detailed comparison of wrapper components revealed differences. However, the division bench noted that while individual elements differed, their intentional arrangement mirrored Britannia's, dismissing ITC's claims of coincidence.

The division bench concluded that the wrappers were deceptively similar, likely causing confusion in the market. Recognizing Britannia as the prior user, the court attributed logical copying and dishonest adoption to ITC. It likened ITC's argument on individual wrapper elements to someone copying a story and claiming exclusivity only over the alphabet components.

The bench emphasized that the uniqueness of the trademark and trade dress lay in the combination of color scheme and overall design, not in isolated elements. Convinced of a prima facie case for injunction, the court upheld the single judge's decision without interference.

Case Title: ITC Limited v. Britannia Industries Ltd.