Himalayan Mineral Water files lawsuit against Bisleri

Mount Everest Mineral Water Ltd (MEMW), a Tata Enterprise (owners of the registered trademark, Himalayan), has filed a lawsuit against its competitor, Bisleri International, in the Delhi High Court. According to a press statement released to afaqs!, the court has issued a legal order on the misuse of the ‘Himalayan’ brand by Bisleri; more specifically, the case involves trademark infringement by Bisleri.

The court has debarred Bisleri International from manufacture, sale, advertising or dispatch of its product with a label that uses ‘Himalayas’ in large font, among other interim arrangements. Legal luminary Fali S Nariman, senior counsel, appeared for MEMW.

In its order released earlier, the vacation bench of the Delhi High Court directed that the following arrangement would prevail as between the parties without prejudice to their rights and contentions. Firstly, Bisleri would manufacture, sell, advertise the product at issue only in the bottles marked with its existing label. Further, Bisleri would not manufacture, sell, advertise or dispatch the product at issue with the new label, which is under contention.

For the record, Himalayan Natural Mineral Water Himalayan, the internationally known natural mineral water brand, is now a product of Tata Enterprise. Having acquired 31.73 per cent stake in the company last year and being the single largest shareholder as a result, Tata Tea is now the management in charge of the water brand which was earlier a product of Mount Everest Mineral Water. According to the company, the water is endowed with vital organic minerals. Untouched and unprocessed, it has a taste acquired after more than 20 years of percolation, as it makes its way to the underground aquifer located in the Shivalik range of the Himalayas. This heritage quality of the brand was used by Rediffusion DY&R, its agency, in its communication.

Bisleri, on the other hand, has been around for several years. Mineral water under the name, Bisleri, was first introduced in Mumbai in glass bottles in 1965 by Bisleri Ltd, a company of Italian origin.

Parle bought Bisleri (India) in 1969. The company recently introduced Bisleri Natural Mountain Water – water brought from the foothills of the mountains in Himachal Pradesh. Its recent ad campaigns include those on the thought, ‘The Sweet Taste of Purity’.