In a relief to Mondelez-owned Intercontinental Great Brands (IGB), the owner of the OREO biscuit brand, the Delhi High Court on Friday restrained Parle Products from using the trademarks “FABIO” or “FAB!O” for its chocolate biscuits “for any purpose whatsoever.”
This injunction shall also apply to stocks presently in Parle’s possession and as yet unclear, though it would not apply to stocks that have already been released in the market. “The injunction shall remain in force pending disposal of the suit.” Justice C. Hari Shankar said in an interim order:
“A consumer of average intelligence and imperfect recollection who has earlier purchased and had the Oreo cookie would, when he sees the Fab!o cookie pack, be clearly likely to associate the Fab!o cookie with the Oreo cookie that he had earlier enjoyed,” he held.
The order concluded that Parle had infringed on the registered trademarks by passing off its Fab!o brand of cookies and issued an interim injunction prohibiting Parle from using the mark until the suit was resolved.
However, the court rejected the contention of Oreo that the designs of the two cookies are also similar.
Understanding the contention
- The complaint alleged that, prior to 2020, Parle was using the brands Fab and Fab!o for its biscuits. After 2020, the defendant introduced cream-filled chocolate sandwich biscuits under the mark “Fab!o” only for cream-filled chocolate sandwich biscuits that were identical to Oreo. The allegation is that the mark on the defendant‘s biscuit, though written “Fab!o,” is bound to be pronounced “Fabio” and is deceptively similar to the Oreo mark.
- Parle contended that there was only one letter O in Fab!o is common, but it is otherwise structurally, visually, and phonetically distinct from the Oreo mark. It was also claimed that the embossing on the surface is not the same.