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A dispute between Los Angeles-based Fiji Water and a Fiji-based bottled water company ended on Wednesday after the parties agreed to settle a trademark infringement lawsuit.
Los Angeles Business Journal reports billionaire couple Stewart and Lynda Resnick settled the dispute with the owners of Dayals (Fiji) Artesian Waters Limited over the company's Island Chill brand of water, which evokes an association with Fiji Waters label.
Like Fiji Water, Island Chill capitalizes on the image of the island getaway with its 3-D label featuring an exotic red flower, square bottle and blue cap.
Months after entering the U.S. market, Island Chill filed a lawsuit against Fiji Water in anticipation that the Resnicks would file suit claiming Island Chill infringed on their trademark.
In the suit, which was scheduled to go to trial June 24, Island Chill owner Jay Prakash Dayal asked a federal judge to determine that the company is not infringing on Fiji Water's trademark by advertising its water as being from Fiji and that the company is not engaging in unfair business practices.
But the companies settled, and Island Chill agreed to remove the flower from the bottles label, and only reference the waters source, Fiji, on the back of the label.
The idea behind settlement was to stop war between the companies and let everybody continue to compete fairly and sell water, said Marc Hankin, Island Chills lawyer.
Island Chill told the Fiji Times the change in trademark is only for its US market.
Source: Fiji Times, Suva
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