Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has stopped Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD), led by Kishore Chhabria, from launching or selling two liquor brands — Mansion House and Savoy Club — anywhere in India. This decision overturns an earlier order that had allowed ABD to sell these brands in West Bengal.
The court’s decision comes after Tilaknagar Industries (TI), which already sells Mansion House brandy and Savoy Club whisky in India, objected to ABD’s plans. TI argued that it has been using these brand names in India for nearly four decades and that ABD’s entry would confuse consumers.
A division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne said in their order that allowing both companies to sell under the same names would cause confusion among customers and is not in the public interest. The court pointed out that UTO Asia — the company that originally owned the brand rights and was recently acquired by ABD — has not sold even a single bottle under these names in India for the last 38 years.
ABD said in a stock exchange filing that it is planning to challenge the ruling.
The dispute over these brand names has been ongoing for 17 years. In 1987, TI signed an agreement with Dutch company Herman Jansen (then owner of UTO Asia) to use the Mansion House and Savoy Club names in India. However, Herman Jansen later disputed the legality of that agreement and filed a trademark case in 2008.
In 2011, the Bombay High Court ruled in favour of Tilaknagar, recognizing its rights to the Mansion House name in India. Despite this, Herman Jansen filed an appeal, and in 2014, it sold a 50% stake in the brand rights to ABD, allowing ABD to produce and sell the liquor in India. This triggered another round of legal battles.
In February this year, a single judge had allowed ABD to launch the brands in West Bengal, saying their labels looked different and that the products targeted a different, more premium segment. Tilaknagar challenged that order, and now the division bench has reversed it.
Tilaknagar’s legal team, led by senior lawyers Ravi Kadam and Venkatesh Dhond, emphasized that the company has built the Mansion House and Savoy Club brands in India over the past 40 years.
Tilaknagar’s legal head Savitrii Dadhich confirmed the latest development but declined to share more details.
