ITC Ltd has alleged that food major Britannia Industries Ltd has copied the packaging and trade dress of its popular biscuit brand ‘Sunfeast Wowzers’ and filed a case of infringement of intellectual property right (IPR) before the Calcutta High Court.

The Calcutta-based company, which has a wide spectrum of business spanning cigarette, foods, personal care, paper and agriculture, sought from the high court an injunction restraining Britannia from manufacturing and selling the competing product, among others.

On Friday, the matter came up for hearing before the bench of Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur who did not pass any ad-interim order and, instead, issued directions to the parties to file affidavits.

The high-profile clash between the two giants signals escalating competition in the food business, especially biscuits, where both ITC and Britannia, which still maintains its registered office in Calcutta, are trying to corner market share both in the mass and premium segments.

The case

ITC launched the cheese flavoured biscuit ‘Sunfeast Wowzers’ in late 2024 and became the number two player in the category, notching a sales turnover of around ₹51 crore within 12 months, a petition filed by ITC showed.

In a year’s time, Britannia Industries also entered the category with brand ‘50:50 Cheese Dipped”, which ITC alleged has the same distinctive look as its ‘Sunfeast Wowzers’.

The cheese flavoured biscuit category, popularised in India by ‘Malkist’, a brand of Indonesia’s Mayora Group, has emerged as a playground for producers looking to tap the premium end.

ITC contended that it had conceived, adopted and commercially launched the ‘Sunfeast Wowzers’ with a distinctive packaging and trade dress, and that the same constituted an original artistic work protected under the Copyright Act, 1957.

In IPR, a trade dress refers to a type of intellectual property that protects the total visual appearance and overall image of a product or its packaging, serving to identify its source to consumers, much like a trademark.

ITC relied on the commercial success, advertising investments and consumer recognition to assert goodwill and exclusivity in the said trade dress.

The product has a distinctive combination of black, orange/yellow on the consumer pack, ITC argued. The company alleged that Britannia’s ‘50:50 Cheese Dipped’ with packaging and trade dress which was identical or deceptively similar to that of ITC, resulted in infringement, misappropriation of goodwill, and likelihood of consumer confusion.

On this basis, ITC sought urgent ad-interim injunctions restraining Britannia from manufacturing, selling, advertising or dealing in the impugned product.

In the high court on Friday, ITC was represented by senior advocate S. N. Mookherjee, advocate Paritosh Sinha, partner of Majumder and Sinha, among others, while Britannia was represented by senior advocate Ratnanko Banerji, advocate Arunabha Deb, partner of Avijit Deb Partners, among others.

Neither ITC nor Britannia commented on the development.