COCA COLA COMPANY Vs. BISLERI INTERNATIONAL PVT LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order shall dispose of four applications. Among these, two applications being I.A. No. 2861/2009 under Order VI Rule 17 and Order I Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and I.A. No. 12490/2008 under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 of the Code have been filed by the plaintiff. Defendant No. 1 has filed I.A. No. 13904/2008 and I.A. No. 13905/2008 under Order VII Rule 11 and under Order XXXIX Rule 4 of the Code respectively.

(2.) Brief facts are that the plaintiff is the largest brand of soft drinks operating in 200 countries. The plaintiff appoints bottlers and grants licenses to them to use specific trademarks belonging to it for sale of beverages. The plaintiff also designates third parties to manufacture beverage bases for sale to the Bottlers.

(3.) The defendant No. 1 (the erstwhile Acqua Minerals Pvt. Ltd.) used to be a part of the Parle Group of Industries. By a Master Agreement dated September 18, 1993 the defendant No. 1's owners Mr. Ramesh Chauhan and Mr. Prakash Chauhan sold the trade marks, formulation rights, know how, intellectual property rights and goodwill etc. of their products THUMS UP, LIMCA, GOLD SPOT, CITRA and MAAZA amongst others to the plaintiff. The present case deals with the product MAAZA only. Though the defendant No. 1 was the proprietor of its trademark, the secret beverage base for manufacturing MAAZA was with an affiliate company of the defendant No. 1 known as Golden Agro Products Ltd. Now the company, which changed its name to Bisleri Sales Ltd., amalgamated with the defendant No. 1 along with other concerns.