Calcutta High Court stops Parle from using 'Top Gold Star' brand name

On July 19, 2024, Calcutta High Court passed a stay order restraining Parle from marketing its product under the "TOP GOLD STAR" brand name until August 27, 2024.

SAJ Food Products, a manufacturer of biscuits, snacks, and bakery products under the brand ‘BISK FARM’, announced that the Calcutta High Court has granted an ex-parte injunction restraining Parle Biscuits from selling and marketing its new biscuit product under the brand name "TOP GOLD STAR."

Bisk Farm adopted the mark "TOP GOLD" for one of its biscuits in 2005 and secured statutory protection through trademark and copyright registrations. SAJ is the only entity registered and/or applied for the mark TOP GOLD before the Trademark Registry. Recently, it was noticed that Parle launched a new product in the same category under the name "TOP GOLD STAR."

Bisk Farm is the prior and only registered user of the mark TOP GOLD in Class 30 as on this date. Parle has purported to infringe the registered mark of Bisk Farm “TOP GOLD” by way of malafide adoption of “TOP GOLD STAR” wherein the terms ‘TOP’ and ‘GOLD’ are written in larger font and the term STAR is written in smaller font. This is structurally, phonetically, and/or deceptively similar to the TOP GOLD mark of Bisk Farm and is used in relation to the identical goods, i.e, biscuits. Bisk Farm contended that this is a clear act of passing off and had approached the Calcutta High Court to restrain Parle Biscuits from using the "TOP GOLD STAR" mark.

On July 19, 2024, the Hon'ble Justice Krishna Rao passed a stay order restraining Parle from selling and marketing its product under the "TOP GOLD STAR" brand name until August 27, 2024.

Vijay Singh, managing director, Bisk Farm said, “We have a distinguished history of introducing distinct biscuits, each marked by its own unique identity, all of which have been well-received by consumers. We are determined to protect our intellectual property rights and brand integrity which has been carefully built over two decades by our late founder K.D.Paul. We are thankful to the honourable court for issuing an ex-parte protective order against this action of trademark infringement by Parle.”