But the Indian Supreme Court has just fixed a date to hear a 21-year-old dispute over a trade mark for Peter Scot whisky, made by the Indian company Khoday Group.
The Scotch Whisky Association first filed an application to remove the Peter Scot trade mark in 1986. In 1989 the Deputy Registrar ordered that the mark be removed from the register on the basis that the mark was misleading as it indicated a Scottish origin.
Khoday appealed the decision but Madras High Court refused the appeal in 1998 and the Division Bench of the same court made the same decision on October 12 2007.
"Sometimes the matters do take a long time," said Shruti Chaudhary, a lawyer for Fox Mandal Little, which is acting for the Scotch Whisky Association in the case.
A spokesperson for the Association told MIP Week the organization "will be strenuously opposing Khoday’s appeal". A two-person bench is due to hear the case on January 15 2008.
The Association also began passing off proceedings against Peter Scot in 1987 that are still before the courts.
