New Delhi: In the Oreo vs Fabio case, a single judge bench of the Delhi High Court on Friday banned Parle Products Pvt Ltd. Ltd. to sell its Vanilla Cream Filled Biscuit. The suit was filed by Intercontinental Great Brands – the owner of the Oreo brand – alleging that Parle’s Fab!O infringed on its trademark.
What is the matter?
Oreo is also a popular brand in India which makes a type of sandwich consisting of two pieces of biscuit or cookie with vanilla cream filling in between. It is very popular among kids for its unique look and taste. The Oreo brand is owned by Mondelez International, which is also a sole proprietorship in India.
Parle Products Ltd. Started producing a new type of biscuit with the brand ‘Fab!o’ which bears resemblance and association with Oreo. Fab!O is a sandwich type biscuit consisting of two round shaped biscuit pieces filled with a sweetened cream.
Plaintiffs argued that the FAB!O mark was being used for chocolate sandwich biscuits filled with vanilla cream that looked similar to Oreos. The Court reasoned that FABIO is similar to FABIO because the ‘I’ is disguised as an exclamation mark.
The crux of the controversy is the way Parle has tried to sell its Fabo, advertised as Fa-Bi-Yo. The single judge bench admitted to pronouncing it like Oreo. He observes that the endings of syllables are similar to both brands, “ee-yo” and concludes “the name undoubtedly rhymes”.