Britannia, Danone take Tiger row to court

Britannia Industries has initiated legal action against joint- venture partner Group Danone in Singapore over intellectual property rights of its popular biscuit brand Tiger, reports Suprotip Ghosh.

Britannia Industries has initiated legal action against joint- venture partner Group Danone in Singapore over intellectual property rights of its popular biscuit brand Tiger.

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Britannia's move is based on the legal advice of its IPR Committee.

The IPR panel, which was created in May 2006 to deal with all matters related to IPR, has been working to resolve the issue of the use and registration of Tiger by the French food major Danone in several countries, without the consent or authorisation of the Britannia board.

Britannia Chairman Nusli Wadia has resigned from the IPR Committee to ensure that there is no potential conflict of interest while dealing with the Tiger IPR matter and the discussions between the Wadia Group and Groupe Danone over shareholder matters, said a release from Britannia. The IPR Committee will now consist of Britannia MD Vinita Bali and 3 independent directors — Nimesh Kampani, Keki Dadiseth and Dr Vijay Kelkar.

Britannia had made a formal claim for the ownership of the Tiger brand in an attempt to prevent the "unauthorised" use of the brand by its French promoter Danone in some overseas markets.