Delhi High Court restrains sale of Good Time cookies after Britannia alleges similarity to Good Day cookies

The Delhi High Court recently restrained a company from manufacturing and selling butter cookies under the name ‘Good Time’ on finding that it had almost identical packaging to Britannia’s ‘Good Day' or 'Good Day Butter Cookies’ [Britannia Industries Limited v Amar Biscuits Private Limited & Ors]..Justice Prathiba M Singh passed the interim order noting that butter cookies are products that are purchased by children, literate and illiterate people across urban and rural areas and that Britannia ‘Good Day’ cookies and its packaging have achieved enormous recognition and goodwill in the market.Any attempt to imitate Britannia's name, mark or packaging would have to be stopped immediately since consumers are likely to get confused between the two sets of products (Good Day and Good Time cookies), the Court stressed.“Accordingly, till the next date of hearing, the Defendants and all other acting for or on their behalf shall stand restrained from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale butter cookie biscuits or any other products in the infringing packaging which is extracted above under the name ‘GOOD TIME/GOOD TIME BUTTER COOKIES’ or any other mark which is identical or deceptively similar to the Plaintiff’s mark ‘GOOD DAY/GOOD DAY BUTTER COOKIES’. The Defendants shall take down any online listings of this product within 48 hours,” the Court ordered..The order was passed after Britannia approached the High Court seeking an order against Amar Biscuit Pvt. Ltd. and its promoters from manufacturing, selling, and offering for sale butter cookies under the mark ‘‘Good Time" which had similar packaging to Britannia’s Good DayBritannia argued that the packaging of ‘Good Day Butter Cookies’ is not merely a trademark label that is entitled to protection but is also an artistic work in which Britannia enjoys copyright.Britannia told the Court that it had recently learned from a consumer, who put a post on platform X (formerly Twitter), about the defendants’ (Amar Biscuits) adoption of the infringing trademark ‘Good Time’, which product also had the same colour combination (of blue and yellow) that Britannia used for its product..The Court considered the two packaging and held that the defendants had made a fully thought out and deliberate attempt to copy and imitate Britannia’s packaging. If an ad interim injunction is not granted, it would cause irreparable loss to Britannia, the Court added. Therefore, Justice Singh passed an interim order against Amar Biscuits and further ordered it to place on record a stock statement of the material bearing the mark and packaging in question on the next date. .Advocates Sagar Chandra, Shubhie Wahi and Ankita Seth appeared for Britannia Industries Limited.Amar Biscuit Pvt Ltd was represented through Advocate Amit Tomar..[Read Order]