Trademark dispute: Bisk Farm secures injunction against Parle biscuits

New Delhi: SAJ Food Products, a manufacturer of biscuits, snacks, and bakery products under the brand ‘Bisk Farm,’ announced that the Calcutta High Court has granted an ex-parte injunction restraining Parle Biscuits from selling and marketing their new biscuit product under the brand name "Top Gold  Star."

Bisk Farm adopted the mark "Top Gold " for one of its biscuits in 2005 and secured statutory protection through trademark and copyright registrations. The brand revealed that SAJ is the only entity registered and/or applied for the mark Top Gold before the Trademark Registry. 

Recently, it was noticed that Parle launched a new product in the same category under the name "Top Gold  Star." Parle had adopted the name “Top Gold  Star” wherein the terms ‘Top’ and ‘Gold’ were written in larger font and the term Star was written in smaller font. 

Bisk Farm contended that this was a clear act of passing off and had approached the Calcutta High Court to restrain Parle Biscuits from using the "Top Gold  Star" mark.

On July 19, 2024, justice Krishna Rao passed a stay order restraining Parle from selling and marketing their product under the "Top Gold  Star" brand name until August 27, 2024.

Vijay Singh, Managing Director, Bisk Farm, said, “We have a distinguished history of introducing distinct biscuits, each marked by its own unique identity, all of which have been well-received by consumers. We are determined to protect our intellectual property rights and brand integrity which has been carefully built over two decades by our late founder Mr K.D.Paul. We are thankful to the honourable court for issuing an ex-parte protective order against this action of trademark infringement by Parle.”

The order reads, "This Court finds that the petitioner has made out a prima facie case and the balance of convenience and inconvenience is in favour of the petitioner. This Court also finds that if at this stage an interim order is not passed, the business of the petitioner will suffer irreparable loss and injury as the respondent using the mark of the plaintiff 'Top Gold ' and 'Top Gold star' identical to the mark of the petitioner.”