The Madras High Court has declined to interfere with the copyright granted to Kedia Industries for its Everest Coconut Oil label, dismissing a petition filed by Marico Limited, the maker of Parachute.
In an order dated November 11, Justice N. Senthilkumar held that Marico had not demonstrated any infringement and that the packaging of the two competing coconut oil brands was sufficiently distinct. The judge noted that the differences in design, colour tones, descriptions and brand elements were clear on comparison.
Marico had approached the court under Section 50 of the Copyright Act, 1957, asserting that Kedia Industries had copied fundamental aspects of the Parachute label. The company argued that Kedia’s proprietor, Prahalad Rai Kedia, had secured copyright for the Everest label by withholding material information and falsely presenting it as original.
Although Kedia Industries did not participate in the proceedings this time, the court considered the company’s earlier response from 2016. In that reply, Kedia maintained that it had been producing coconut oil since 2002, using the Everest trademark from 2006, and had introduced the questioned label in 2007. The firm insisted that its design was developed independently and without any intent to imitate.
The court also underlined that both companies held their own label registrations, and emphasised that the blue colour frequently used across hair oil brands could not be claimed exclusively by any single manufacturer.
Finding no substantive overlap between the products, the court remarked that Marico’s challenge appeared to be an attempt to assert dominance in the coconut oil market. “The petitioner has not been able to show any infringement,” the order stated, concluding that the Everest label was “clearly distinguishable” from that of Parachute.
With this, the petition was dismissed, affirming Kedia Industries’ copyright over its Everest Coconut Oil packaging.
