Bisleri international chairman Ramesh Chauhan and The Coca Cola Company (TCCC) are locked in a dispute over the intellectual property rights for soft drink trademark “Maaza” outside India. Mr Chauhan has accused Coca cola of stealing the IPR for Maaza and infringing agreements dating back to 1993 and 1994 signed between TCCC and Aqua Minerals (now Bisleri). Mr Chauhan claims that the Maaza trademark was sold to TCCC only within India and the licensee (Bisleri) was the registered proprietor of the trademark outside India.
Coca cola however, claims that “there was no non compete agreement entered into by the Chauhan entities to restrain the company in relation to any country where the Maaza trademark was not registered by a Chauhan entity”. In a strongly worded notice to Coca Cola, Mr chauhan has claimed that by trying to register the trademark outside India, Coke has placed him in an embarrassing position in relation to his contractual obligation with other parties. He has now sought compensation for this.
Key Point
· Launched in 1976, Maaza was the brainchild of Ramesh Chauhan, who sold it to coke in 1993, along with Thums Up, Citra, Goldspot,Rim-Zim and Limka.
· In June 2007, the Bisleri Group-promoted Maaza Beverages sold the trademark rights of Maaza for International markets to its bottlers Infra Beverages, Europe, and House of Spice, US
· Coke, which owns the trademark in India, is said to have been keen on buying the rights for overseas markets, Chauhan claims Maaza trademark was sold to Coke only within India and Bisleri was the registered proprietor for it outside India.
· Coke however, claims there was no non-compere agreement to restrain it in relation to any country where a Chauhan Entity did not register the Maaza trademark.
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