Allied Blenders and Distillers has been prevented from selling spirits brands Mansion House and Savoy Club in India by the Bombay High Court.
The company acquired the brands from UTO Asia, a subsidiary of Dutch spirits group Herman Jansen, for €1.2m (then $1.4m) in June.
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As part of the transaction, Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD) was to gain “worldwide rights” and “title interest” of the brandy and whisky brands Mansion House and Savoy Club with the exception of ten markets, a stock market filing said at the time.
It was still waiting for legal approval to use the two trademarks in India.
A recent filing from ABD on the Bombay Stock Exchange said the division bench of the Bombay High Court has asked the company to refrain from introducing products under these brand names until a final decision has been made on an ongoing commercial suit dating back to 2009.
“The company is considering to challenge, the order dated July 16, 2025, passed in the aforesaid appeals,” the Officer’s Choice brand owner said.
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By GlobalDataHerman Jansen has been involved in a long-running legal battle with another Indian distiller, Tilaknagar Industries, over the rights to the brands.
In 2009, the Dutch business filed a request for a temporary injunction against Tilaknagar “from passing off by use of the marks ‘Mansion House’ and Savoy Club'”.
According to Tilaknagar’s website, Mansion House sits in its portfolio of brands and is produced at its Shrirampur brandy distillery in India’s Ahmednagar district.
ABD’s recent filing which details the litigation, said the Bombay High Court had “granted leave to ABD to introduce products” under the Mansion House brands in West Bengal in February.
Tilaknagar sought an injunction against Herman Jansen, ABD and UTO Asia in 2010 around the manufacturing and marketing of products under the Mansion House and Savoy Club trademarks. The injunction was also dismissed in February this year, ABD said in its filing.
However, Tilaknagar has since filed two commercial appeals, which have been permitted by the Bombay High Court, while the order made in February, was “set aside”, ABD said.
In its own filing last week, Tilaknagar said it had “successfully established its proprietary rights in the trademarks Mansion House & Savoy Club and the company’s rights to continue the usage of the concerned trademarks as had been upheld”.
