Justice Madhav J. Jamdar of the Bombay High Court has restrained a Karnataka-based business from manufacturing or selling packaged drinking water under the 'CLEAR/CLEAR AQUA IND' mark, after physically comparing the rival products at an earlier hearing and finding them prima facie counterfeit — with identical bottle shapes, label design, colour scheme and feature placement.
The Court noted that 'AQUA IND' was rendered in negligible font on the defendant's label while 'CLEAR' was given disproportionate prominence, closely mirroring the plaintiff's own branding. The interim order followed claims of trademark infringement, copyright infringement of the plaintiff's label artwork, and passing off, all argued together as facets of the same underlying imitation.
The ruling reinforces that Indian courts will readily grant interim injunctions against close packaging and get-up copying in the FMCG and packaged-water sector where a side-by-side comparison shows deliberate imitation — a useful precedent for brand owners pursuing fast interim relief against counterfeit look-alikes rather than waiting for a full trial.