Supreme Court examines whiskey bottles while hearing trademark infringement plea by Blenders Pride against London Pride

The Supreme Court last week issued notice on a plea filed by Pernod Ricard India, which owns the Blenders Pride whisky brand, alleging trademark infringement by Indore-based company JK Enterprises that manufactures beverages under 'London Pride' mark [Pernod Ricard India Pvt Ltd and anr vs Karanveer Singh Chhabra]..The hearing before the bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra witnessed some interesting exchanges as Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing for Pernod Ricard, handed over some empty whiskey bottles of both companies to the bench and requested bench to examine the packaging and labels on them.At the outset of hearing, Rohatgi sought the permission of the bench to bring the bottles to the courtroom which the bench allowed after noting that the issue of trade dress was involved.The CJI asked whether the bottles had been displayed before the courts below as well to which counsel replied in the affirmative and said that even the size of the bottles were same, which was misleading to customers."Issue notice on the prayer for stay as well as on the Special Leave Petition returnable on 19 January 2023. Dasti service, in addition, is permitted," the top court ordered."Now I would like to take the bottles back," Rohatgi said as the hearing drew to a close. The CJI laughed and allowed the same..The appeal before the apex court arose from a Madhya Pradesh High order from November 3, 2023, which had rejected Pernod Ricard India's petition to halt the sale of London Pride whisky.Besides Rohatgi, advocates Hemant Singh, Mamta Jha, Mohit D Ram, Rajul Shrivastav, Monisha Handa, Sambhav Jain, Reha Mohan and Anubhav Sharma represented Pernod Ricard India..This is the second time in the recent past that liquor bottles have found their way to the apex court through intellectual property rights claims filed by Pernod Ricard.The Supreme Court had in September refused to grant interim relief to Pernod Ricard India against United Spirits which manufactures whiskey under the name 'Royal Challengers American Pride.'That hearing too had seen some lighter moments as the counsel and judges discussed whisky brewing."I am deciding and opining on this though I do not have the expertise in the subject," Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul (since retired) had orally remarked..[Read Order].[Read Live coverage]