A 7-year-old legal battle between Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturers Nestle India Limited & ITC Limited over the use of the expression ‘Magical Masala’ in the Ex’s Maggi brand of instant noodles has finally come to an end with the Madras HC dismissing a suit filed by ITC Limited which owns Sunfeast Yipee brand of noodles.
Justice C. Saravanan held that a suggestive expression such as ‘Magic Masala’ used in Sunfeast Yipee noodles since 2010 could have become a distinctive mark entitled for protection & monopoly, only if it had been used uninterrupted for a long number of years. Whereas in the present case, Nestle had pre-empted such a move by using ‘Magical Masala’ in Maggi in 2013 itself.
Justice C. Saravanan pointed out that the instant noodle industry in India was valued at over ₹2,000 crores even during 2013 when the civil suit was filed. Nestle was the leader in the business holding about 75 per cent of market share since it had entered the business as early as in the 1970s. Its annual turnover from Maggi rose from ₹0.02 crore in 1972 to ₹2,377 crores in 2012.
On the other hand, ITC Limited, originally engaged in the tobacco business, had diversified its operations into hospitality, paper & agri-based industries before foraying into FMCG in 2010. It began selling Sunfeast Yippee brand of noodles in 2 varieties Classic Masala & Magic Masala & the latter turned out to be a runaway hit in the market.
The turnover of Sunfeast Yipee Noodles Magic Masala rose from ₹23.09 crore in 2010 to ₹251.49 crores by 2013, thus capturing 12.5 per cent of the market. “Though the defendant (Nestle) is the undisputed leader in the instant noodles segment… it must have felt threatened by the plaintiff’s rapid inroad into the food industry… & therefore decided to use ‘Magical Masala.’
“However, such adoption of the expression cannot be said to be mala fide. It was a legitimate adoption by the defendant as no person can appropriate common & laudatory words… Laudatory epithet cannot be given monopoly or protection,” Justice C. Saravanan said & pointed out that the words Magic & Masala were used widely by many in the FMCG industry.
Though Sunfeast was the first to use the expression ‘Magic Masala’ for instant noodles, Pepsico had been using the same expression for its Lay’s brand of chips even before 2010, the Judge pointed out. He also said that the Annual Reports of ITC Limited clearly show that it had not conceived the expression, under contention, either as a brand or sub-brand.
Further, after comparing the wrappers of Sunfeast Yippee Noodles Magic Masala & Maggi Xtra delicious Magical Masala, the Judge found them to be completely distinctive without any scope for confusion between them. Hence, the charge levelled against Nestle of misrepresentation & misleading the consumers stands disproved, He ruled.
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