Britannia drags Danone to court over Tiger IPR

MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 20: The tussle between Britannia Industries and Danone over intellectual property rights (IPRs) of the Tiger brand of biscuits has finally reached court, with the Indian firm initiating legal action against the French food giant in Singapore. “Based on legal advice and under the direction of its IPR committee, Britannia — which is jointly controlled by Nusli Wadia and Danone — has initiated legal action against Groupe Danone in Singapore pertaining to Tiger IPR,” Britannia said in a statement.

When contacted, a Danone spokesperson said it had a different position from Britannia regarding the IPR of Tiger. “We have tried to find a solution amicably. So a third party as a judge will be welcome to arbitrate,” the Danone spokesperson said.

A Britannia statement said its chairman Nusli Wadia resigned on Wednesday from the IPR panel to ensure that there was no conflict of interest in dealing with Tiger IPR matter and talks between the Wadia Group and Danone over shareholder issues. The IPR committee will now be headed by Vijay Kelkar, an independent director. It will consist of Britannia managing director Vinita Bali and two other independent directors Nimesh Kampani and Keki Dadiseth.

The IPR Committee was created in May 2006 to deal with all IPR matters of the company and for the last year has been working to resolve the issue of use and registration of the Tiger brand by Groupe Danone in several countries without the consent of the Britannia Board, the company said.

In June, Danone had expressed its intention to exit Britannia to ease its India entry plans. The Wadias and Danone own 50 per cent in UK-based Associated Biscuits International Holdings, which holds 51 per cent in Britannia.

Recently, Danone had sold its global biscuits business to Kraft Foods except in India, where it is one of the promoters of Britannia. Wadia and Danone hold almost equal stake in Britannia through Associated Biscuits International Holding.

The much-awaited meeting between Groupe Danone chairman Franck Riboud and Nusli Wadia earlier this month failed to materialise into anything concrete.

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