Intercontinental Great Brands LLC v. Parle Products Pvt. Ltd.

"Trademark infringement ruled: FAB!O mark similar to OREO, court finds."

- Case No. : CS(COMM) 64/2021

- Court : Delhi High Court

- Judge : Justice C. Hari Shankar

- Date of Judgment : February 10, 2023

Short Description

The Delhi High Court ruled in favor of Intercontinental Great Brands LLC, restraining Parle Products Pvt. Ltd. from using the "FAB!O" trademark due to its similarity to the well-established "OREO" trademark. The court found that the defendant's mark was deceptively similar and likely to cause consumer confusion .

Facts

- The plaintiff, Intercontinental Great Brands LLC, owns the OREO brand of biscuits.

- The defendant, Parle Products Pvt. Ltd., introduced a new range of biscuits under the brand "FAB!O" in January 2020.

- The plaintiff alleged that the defendant's mark was deceptively similar to the OREO trademark and infringed on its intellectual property rights.

Findings :

- The court found that the defendant's FAB!O mark was phonetically similar to the plaintiff's OREO mark.

- The court also noted that the defendant's trade dress was deceptively similar to the plaintiff's OREO package.

- The court held that the defendant's actions were likely to cause consumer confusion and infringe on the plaintiff's trademark rights.

Judgment :

- The court restrained Parle Products Pvt. Ltd. from using the "FAB!O" or "FABIO" trademarks.

- The defendant was also directed to cease manufacturing, packing, or selling vanilla cream-filled chocolate sandwich biscuits in packaging similar to the plaintiff's OREO biscuits.

- The injunction applies to stocks in the defendant's possession that have not yet been released to the market.