Delhi High Court declines plea to restrain Parle from using ‘For The Bold’ tagline on B Fizz Bottles and Cans

Delhi High Court declines plea to restrain Parle from using ‘For The Bold’ tagline on B Fizz Bottles and Cans

PepsiCo had filed a suit against it for trademark infringement

The Delhi High Court has refused to pass any orders restraining Parle from using the tagline ‘For The Bold’ as the predominant part of any advertising campaign for its B Fizz beverage - bottles and cans. However, it temporarily restrained the company from using the tagline as a predominant part of its advertising campaign for the drink.

In the PepsiCo Inc & Anr vs Parle Agro Private Limited case, Justice C Hari Shankar ordered, “Parle shall be restrained, pending disposal of the suit from altering the label on its ‘B Fizz’ beverage bottle/can without prior approval of this Court. Parle is restrained, pending disposal of the suit, from using the tagline ‘For The Bold’ as the predominant part of any advertising campaign for its ‘B Fizz’ beverage. Specifically, it is restrained, forthwith, from airing or continuing the Facebook advertisements extracted in para 13 supra. The advertisements, if continuing, shall be immediately taken down and discontinued.”

In its plea, PepsiCo Inc stated that it produces the Doritos range of tortilla chips and had launched a global marketing campaign under the tagline ‘For The Bold’ to encourage Doritos consumers to live boldly by seizing the moments in life and breaking out of the norm of everyday life, to experience more and live more.

The firm claimed that in November 2020, Parle launched a malt-flavored fruit juice-based drink in India by the name B Fizz and used the mark ‘Be The Fizz! For the Bold!’ on the bottle. PepsiCo further informed the Court about Parle’s ad campaigns where it was prominently using ‘For the Bold’ mark.

Meanwhile, Parle filed an application challenging the registration of the trademark ‘For The Bold’ in favor of PepsiCo.

On observation, the Court held that Parle’s application was tenable. It also framed the issue: “Whether the registration of the tagline ‘For The Bold’ as a trademark in favor of PepsiCo, is valid?”

On PepsiCo’s application to injunct Parle from using the tagline, the Court stated that it was not inclined to injunct the use of ‘For The Bold’ mark as part of the label on the B Fizz bottle. However, the way Parle uses the mark in its advertising campaign on Facebook has to be injuncted.

Thus, the bench passed the injunction order about Parle’s advertising campaigns.

The Court stated, “Parle is directed to place on record the entire returns earned by the sales of its ‘B Fizz’ beverage using the label containing ‘For The Bold’ from the time the use commenced, duly certified by a chartered accountant. Parle would continue to file, every two months, duly certified figures of returns of sales from its ‘B Fizz’ beverage, during the pendency of the suit.”

The issue will be decided after the Court takes up Parle’s plea for a hearing on 25 September.

Senior Advocate Amarjit Singh Chandhiok along with Advocates Manish Jha, Dhruv Nagar, and Avni Sharma appeared for PepsiCo.

Parle was represented by Senior Advocate Sudhir Chandra along with Khaitan & Co Advocates Ankur Sangal (Partner), Pragya Mishra (Principal Associate), and Shashwat Rakshit (Associate).