The Delhi High Court in October issued an injunction against Bisleri International, prohibiting the soft drink company from using the Maaza trademark in India. The injunction was brought by Coca-Cola through Lall Lahiri & Salhotra, according to a press release issued by the law firm.
Partner Rahul Chaudhry calls the injunction “the biggest battle initiated by [Coca-Cola in India] in the last seven years.” Coca-Cola also sought to restrain Bisleri and its related concerns from disclosing the know-how, formulation and other intellectual property used in the preparation of Maaza, a tropical fruit drink which was one of the many brands (including Thums Up, Limca and others) bought by Coca-Cola from entities under the control of Ramesh Chauhan.
When Coca-Cola purchased the rights to the use of the Maaza trademark in India, it also bought the entire know-how, formulation and other intellectual property rights used in the preparation of the soft drink, but did not purchase Maaza registrations outside India, instead granting a non-exclusive license to use the formulation, know-how and trademark on goods manufactured in India for the purposes of export to countries where the Maaza mark was registered but had not been taken over by Coca-Cola.
According to lawyers at LLS, the court battle arose over the rights to use the trademark outside India: Coca-Cola was of the view that Bisleri had rights to Maaza in countries where it was registered on the closing date of the agreements, while Bisleri was of the view that it had rights in the trademark in all other countries of the world except India.
The court ordered Bisleri to stop using the Maaza trademark or any other deceptively similar trademark and ordered the company to not disclose the know-how or formulation of the soft drink Maaza to any third party in India.
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