Is selling empty jars similar to Nutella’s trademark infringement? Delhi court says yes
08 April 2026
Asavari Jain | a partner @ Ira Law, New Delhi
According to Asavari Jain, a partner at Ira Law in New Delhi, the Delhi High Court’s decision in Ferrero & Ors v. Abhimanyu Prakash & Ors, which involved the Italian confectionery company’s glass jar for its hazelnut cocoa spread, was a clear case of trademark infringement of Nutella’s shape mark even if the defendant was merely manufacturing the jars for other enterprises and was neither selling the Nutella spread itself inside those jars nor labelling these containers “Nutella.”
In October 2022, Ferrero discovered that the defendants were making and selling empty jars that were nearly identical to its own containers for the Nutella spread. Aside from this, the jars were also described as “Nutella glass jars” on the defendants’ websites, which served as online marketplaces. Said jars were also sold via offline channels. Buyers of these jars proceeded to use them to sell counterfeit Nutella products.
Ferrero has registered trademark rights for the Nutella jar’s shape as well as other labels associated with the brand Nutella.
The Delhi High Court ruled in favour of Ferrero, stating that manufacturing and selling containers that look very similar to the Nutella jars could amount to trademark infringement even if the jars are not being sold with the actual Nutella cocoa spread inside and the label “Nutella” is not used on the jar.
Jain said the court’s ruling is a welcome addition to the shape mark jurisprudence in India.
“The Delhi High Court’s decision in this case is a welcome addition to the shape mark jurisprudence in India. Given that the plaintiff had statutory trademark rights in the ‘Nutella glass jar’ coupled with the fact that the products were being referred to as ‘Nutella jar’ by the defendants themselves, it was a clear case of infringement of the shape mark of the ‘Nutella glass jar,’” said Jain.
The defendants argued the jars were generic glass bottles, hence they were innocent infringers. “However, in the absence of any evidence to demonstrate this plea, the court rightly rejected their plea of being innocent infringers. The defendants also chose not to contest the suit on the merits which further suggested their guilty conduct,” Jain added.
In terms of the legal costs, Jain said the court adopted a balanced approach as it recognized the defendants were not selling the final product themselves but were merely manufacturing the bottles without the Nutella label. “In addition, the court’s direction to hand over the seized stock to the plaintiff, either for its own use or for filling the bottles and donating them to a non-governmental organization, was a thoughtful and practical approach,” she said.
- Espie Angelica A. de Leon
