Britannia MD Vinita Bali (left) with chairman Nusli Wadia in Calcutta on Monday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Aug. 31: The Wadias had resolved all disputes with Groupe Danone over the use of the Tiger brand of biscuits after it acquired the French firm’s stake in Britannia Industries in April this year.

The Tiger brand was initially used by Danone and later by Kraft Inc of the US. Danone had sold its biscuit business to Kraft in December 2007.

At Britannia’s annual general meeting here today, chairman Nusli Wadia said, “We have successfully settled all those issues.” Kraft can, however, use the Tiger name in countries other than India.

Tiger is a generic term and, hence, is not covered under any intellectual property rights. “Kraft is free to develop its own Tiger brand, while Britannia will have the right to use its own Tiger brand in India and elsewhere in the world,” Wadia said.

The Wadias had been involved in a long legal battle with Danone over the unauthorised use of the Tiger brand name by the French giant for its own biscuits.

Danone had, reportedly, applied for registration of the Tiger brand in 70 countries and got it sanctioned in 35 countries.

Britannia Industries, which has been aggressively pursuing global expansion, saw this as a clash of interest and the two companies moved court for arbitration in Singapore and Malaysia in 2007. In December 2007, Danone sold its biscuit unit to Kraft Inc, and since then the US firm was also drawn to the legal battle.

Sugar crunch

Britannia is planning to import sugar to tide itself over the scarcity in the domestic market. “There is a shortage of sugar in the domestic market. So, we need to secure our supplies from the domestic as well as the overseas market,” said Vinita Bali, managing director of the company.