Indian spirits producer Radico Khaitan has been granted interim relief by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the ongoing trademark dispute over its Kashmyr vodka.
The dispute involves Piccadily Agro Industries, which in September revealed it had filed a commercial suit against the Rampur whisky distiller in July.
Piccadily Agro alleged Radico Khaitan had used an “infringing mark and/or passing off ‘Kashmyr’ for the vodka products which is similar” to its own Cashmere and Cashmir registered trademarks.
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Radico Khaitan was then temporarily restricted from selling products using the Kashmyr name or description.
However, upon appeal by Radico Khaitan the September court order is now “kept in abeyance”, as instructed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, until the next hearing date scheduled for 13 November.
Court documents seen by Just Drinks revealed that Piccadily Agro alleged Radico Khaitan used “deceptive similarity” with its ‘Cashmere’ trademark.
Radico Khaitan launched its Kashmyr vodka at the end of July. Piccadily Agro claims that given ‘Cashmere’ is also a vodka, is sold at a similar price, and “is phonetically similar to the company’s registered marks”, it is “likely to cause consumer confusion”.
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By GlobalDataIn an injunction ordered on 23 September, Radico argued that the suit filed against it was not maintainable in the Indian city of Karnal, as the company neither manufactures nor sells in the Haryana state and holds no excise licence there.
Radico also maintained that its use of the ‘The Spirit of Kashmyr’ trademark is “distinct” from Piccadily Agro’s product.
The court documents said that it is “the case of the defendant-appellant that liquor otherwise cannot be sold online and, therefore, in the absence of any evidence of sale of its product in Karnal or anywhere else in the State of Haryana, the instant trademark suit itself is not maintainable at Karnal”.
In August, Radico Khaitan reported “record” quarterly sales, up almost a third year on year.
The Rampur whisky maker booked a 32% jump in net revenue from operations to Rs15.06bn ($171.8m) for the three months to the end of June, the company’s first quarter.
