Supreme Court Permits Sale Of ₹40 Crore ELITO Battery Inventory, Partly Modifies Exide Trade Dress Injunction

The Supreme Court has partly modified a Calcutta High Court injunction granted in favor of Exide Industries Ltd in its trade dress dispute with Amara Raja Energy and Mobility Ltd., allowing the sale of ELITO-branded batteries already lying with distributors, franchisees, and retailers.

The injunction granted by a single judge bench had been upheld by a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on April 2, 2026. The Supreme Court also directed destruction of unused cartons bearing the impugned red trade dress.

Before the Supreme Court, Amara Raja disclosed in an affidavit that, as of May 25, 2026, around 1.38 lakh ELITO batteries worth approximately ₹24.99 crore remained unsold with distributors and franchisees. A further estimated 81,000 units worth ₹15.60 crore were lying with retailers.

The company also stated that production had ceased after the High Court's order. According to the affidavit, the last manufacture of the products took place on March 29, 2026.

Taking note that these products had already been sold to third parties on a principal-to-principal basis and were no longer in Amara Raja's custody, a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan permitted their sale.

However, it directed destruction of 1,44,547 empty cartons bearing the impugned trade dress and held that the injunction would continue in respect of those cartons.

“In the circumstances, insofar as the products which are described in paragraphs 3 to 5 are concerned, we modify the order of temporary injunction and to that extent, we permit the appellant's products which are packaged in red colours cartons be sold by the third party franchises/distributors or retailers to the customers,” the court ruled.

The Court separately dealt with inventory that remained in Amara Raja's possession. Referring to 20,789 batteries valued at about ₹2.63 crore, it observed that the company could market those batteries in packaging that was not red in colour and not similar to Exide's packaging.

The dispute arises from a suit filed by Exide Industries alleging trademark infringement, copyright infringement and passing off against Amara Raja over its ELITO-branded automotive batteries.

Exide contended that Amara Raja had adopted a predominantly red trade dress. It also alleged use of features such as the “EL” mark and a shattered “O” device that were deceptively similar to Exide's branding and likely to cause consumer confusion.

On July 25, 2025, a Single Judge of the Calcutta High Court granted an interim injunction in Exide's favour. The Court restrained Amara Raja from using the impugned trade dress and branding pending disposal of the suit.

Amara Raja challenged the order before a Division Bench. On April 2, 2026, the Division Bench upheld the injunction after finding a prima facie case of passing off. It also observed that the competing battery packaging and trade dress were sufficiently similar to deceive consumers.

The Division Bench noted that Exide had established prior use of the colour red as a distinctive feature of its automotive batteries and found that Amara Raja had previously associated itself with the colour green while distinguishing Exide with the colour red. It further held that the similarities between the rival products, including the predominantly red trade dress and other visual features, were likely to confuse consumers.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court partly allowed the appeal. It modified the injunction only to permit the sale of inventory already lying with distributors, franchisees, and retailers. The court clarified that its observations would not affect the merits of the pending suit.