The battle between liquor majors Chivas Holdings and United Spirits over the trademark ‘Tribute’ seems to be heading for an amicable settlement with the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) suggesting the two companies to explore the possibility of ending the litigation.
Agreeing, in-principle, to the proposal put forth by IPAB, the counsels for both parties sought time to come back after consulting the respective companies.
The liquor majors locked horns when Chivas, which has ‘Royal Salute Tribute to Honour’ scotch whisky brand, had moved IPAB with a rectification petition against United Spirits’ Tribute whisky mark, in order to have their brand in the market with the ‘Tribute’ tagline.
United Spirits, in which Diageo, the world’s largest distiller, recently acquired a controlling stake, opposed the move while Chivas argued that the brand of the company is an international one and,hence, it has to be marketed in India.
The IPAB bench said that as both the parties have agreed to arrive at an amicable settlement of the dispute, the matter has been adjourned to March 5.
IPAB, while hearing the case, suggested that since the Chivas brand is of premium class, United Spirits needn’t worry about its presence — its whisky falls under a different class.
According to registry documents, USL had registered the mark ‘Tribute’ under Class 33 of the trademark (alcoholic beverages) proposed to be used for its whisky. On the other hand, Chivas Holdings uses the word ‘Tribute’ in its premium scotch whisky brand ‘Royal Salute A Tribute to Honour’ and ‘Royal Salute The Diamond Tribute.’
The counsel for Chivas argued that while the trademark has been registered for several years, USL had not put the mark into use and, hence, it has to be removed from the registry.
However, the counsel for United Spirits submitted that the company had registered the trademark to use it for its whisky products and had recently renewed the same in order to use it in near future.