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Mt Everest, Bisleri fight it out over Himalaya
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Saturday, 28 June, 2008, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Mt Everest Mineral Water, a Tata group company, is fighting a legal battle with Bisleri International over the use of the word Himalaya in its mineral water branding. The company has approached the Delhi High Court seeking an injection preventing Bisleri from using the word Himalaya or Himalayan as a trademark. Mt Everest has asked the court for an interim order restraining Bisleri International from using these words in relation to bottled water. While no final order has been passed, the two parties have agreed to an interim arrangement till the disposal of the application seeking an interim injunction.
As a part of the interim arrangement, Bisleri has agreed to stop using the domain bislerihimalayan.com. However, it will continue marketing bottles that say "from the Himalayas" as a descriptive word in small font to denote the origin of the water. It has agreed not to use the word Himalayan in large font. Bisleri also agreed to inform its stockists about these arrangements.
Mt Everest Mineral Water was incorporated in 1991 with its plant at Dhaula Kuan in Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh. The company was promoted by Dadi Balsara, an NRI from Singapore. The Tata group, through Tata Tea, acquired 31.73% holding in the company in 2001. Bisleri launched the Mountain water from the Himalayas in December 2006. Reacting to the present controversy, Ramesh Chauhan , chairman of Bisleri International, said, "We have launched the Mountain water from the Himalayas in December 2006. Why did they not raise the objection then? The company is obviously trying to solve its marketing failures through a legal move. But this will have zero effect on us."
Interestingly, Bisleri is speculated to have bid for the Himalayan brand a couple of years ago, but failed to click owing to valuation issues. Bisleri has set up a manufacturing facility for 6 lakh bottles per day, that can be expanded to 24 lakh bottles, for natural mineral water in Uttaranchal and are built around natural springs.
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