Page 39 - CineBuster Vol-3 Issue-04

HigH Court order : StopS Balaji WaferS

from Selling WaferS tHat are an ‘oBviouS

imitation’ of frito-lay’S CHipS

he Bombay High Court
has injuncted Indian
company Balaji Wafers
Pvt Ltd from selling
potato wafers that
Tare similar to those
manufactured by Frito-
Lay North America, calling them an
“obvious imitation” of the American
chips.

Frito-Lay, along with its Indian partners/
distributors, had approached the HC
against Balaji on the uniqueness of the
design of its potato wafers sold under
the name Lay’s Maxx Chips/Ruffles. unique design, which has deeper ridges and crusts throughout
Balaji sold its product under the name Rumbles.
the surface. Through senior advocate Veerendra Tulzapurkar
and advocate Hiren Kamod, it said this peculiar design made
According Frito-Lay, it had invented the wave-like design of the chips crunchier.
its wafers and had it registered in 2012. After Lay’s popularity
grew, it claimed to have developed another innovative and
Balaji said in its defence that the designs were not unique to
Frito-Lay. Contending that it had made minor changes to the
existing designs, it said Frito-Lay’s registration of the designs
deserve to be cancelled.

Justice SC Gupte said that although this contention might be
right, the onus to satisfy the court on that point was on Balaji
itself. The court further observed that at this stage, when
the parties were yet to present detailed evidence about their
respective contentions, the court was supposed to rely on
visual evidence. “What is important to note is that in assessing
the cases, one had to go by a general ocular impression; the
novelty or otherwise of the product had to be assessed with
eye as the ultimate arbiter,” it said.

The court said in some instances, geometrical changes to a
product don’t affect its quality or purpose, but in the case of
wafers, design changes could make all the difference to its
texture and, therefore, its quality. “The ridges and crusts in the
plaintiffs’ designs do have marked prominence and angularity
and, to the bare eye, seem to be distinct from the generally
wavy pattern of chips otherwise available in the market

35 CINE BUSTER n MARCH 15 n 2020