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  • Essay / The Case of Itc Limited v Britannia Industry

    This case is between major companies ITC and Britannia due to copyright infringement leading to unfair competition. ITC launched a product called Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive Biscuits in February 2016 and Britaannia launched its Nutri Choice Digestive Zero Biscuit product in July 2016. According to ITC, if placed together, the two products are indistinguishable to unwary customers. The plaintiff, ITC Limited, filed a suit against the defendant Britannia Industries Ltd. for seeking to prevent the defendant from infringing its rights in the plaintiff's packaging of Sufeast fiarmlite digestive biscuits by using similar misleading and confusing packaging for its Nutri Choice zero biscuit. Under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 (CPC), ITC seeks an interim injunction to restrain Britannia from continuing to use this packaging for its Nutri Choice Digestive Zero biscuit. During the case, it was also pointed out that Britannia had been selling digestive biscuits under the name 'Nutri Choice' for several years, but when ITC launched its Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive all good biscuit with 'No maida' and 'No add sugar”, Britannia filed a complaint. complaint before the ASCI (Advertising standards Council of India) which ended in an unsuccessful attempt. After that, Britannia introduced Nutri Choice Zero Biscuit, claiming the same things about maida and added sugar in packaging similar to Sunfeast Farmlite. Britannia copied the unique color coding, methods and locations of various elements of ITC's packaging. This is a case of triple identity that is sure to lead to confusion and deception. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Britannia made an offer to the ITC stating that it would replace the blue color with dark blue, which was not accepted by the ITC. Even though Britannia sold the same version of Nutri Choice Digestive internationally with different packaging, it tried to leverage ITC's brand image in India by using indistinguishable packaging. This is a clear case of infringement of ITC's copyright in the said packaging. ITC made a counter offer stating that if Britannia began to adopt its international packaging or change the color to any color other than any shade of blue, then ITC would have no objection. On this offer, Britannia argued that the color blue is used by them for a wide variety of biscuits, at the same time that this color is supposed to reflect "World Digestion Day". Both sides were trying to make sure the other side gave up the color. blue of the packaging but no common ground was established between the two. ITC then presented various unique distinctive features of its packaging, its product sales history since its inception and its marketing expenses for the same. It was pointed out that due to ITC's branding, in a short period of 6 months, the product achieved sales of over Rs. 5 crores and ITC also invested around Rs. 1,00,000. 14 crores in its marketing. Even the price of both products was the same (Rs 25). Under section 51 of the Copyright Act 1957, it was declared that the use of deceptively similar packaging for its product Britannia constitutes infringement of the original work in the packaging of the unique artistic product of ITC. This act of Britannia was treated as illegal. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article now from our editors.