If it's Indian, it can't be Scotch, court tells Indian whiskey makers

NEW DELHI (AP) - An Indian court has ruled that Indian whiskey manufacturers cannot use the words Scot or Scotch to describe their products, in compliance with World Trade Organization rules, a newspaper reported Monday. The words Scot or Scotch identify whiskey produced in Scotland and no Indian manufacturer can use it to promote or market its product, the Deccan Chronicle newspaper quoted Judge Madan Lokur of the Delhi High Court as saying.

This is the first such ruling in India on the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement, which identifies products originating from a particular territory. Foreign companies have long complained that India provides little protection in such cases under WTO rules.

The judgment was given on a lawsuit filed by the Scotch Whisky Association of the United Kingdom seeking to restrain Golden Bottling Limited, an Indian whiskey manufacturer, from using the name Red Scot to sell its whiskey.

The court ordered the company to pay damages of rupees 500,000 ($11,236 US) to the British association for passing off its product as Scotch whisky. It also ordered the Indian firm to pay the association 310,000 rupees ($6,966) as litigation costs.

The association's lawyer, Pravin Anand, told the court that under a WTO agreement on trademarks, protection was provided to products possessing certain qualities, characteristics or a reputation due to their geographical origin.

Anand had argued that Golden Bottling Ltd. was using the word Scot in its label to give the impression that its whiskey was a produce of Scotland or that it is Scotch whisky.

© The Canadian Press, 2006