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Showing contexts for: puffery in Reckitt Benckiser (India) Pvt. Limited ... vs Wipro Enterprises (P) Limited on 18 May, 2023Matching Fragments
57. In other words, puffery and hyperbole are still entitled to the benefit of propositions (a) to (c) in Reckitt & Colman19. Representations of fact, however, would not be entitled to benefit of the said propositions; in other words, if they are untrue, they are 1976 SCC OnLine US SC 89 RAWAT Signing Date:18.05.2023 16:31:44 Neutral Citation Number : 2023:DHC:3418 impermissible. Puffery and exaggerated opinions, it was held, are merely intended to attracted the attention of customers, and not as representations or warranties, nor was such puffery to be accepted as serious representations of facts. As such, puffery and hyperbole are not to be tested on the anvil of accuracy or truth. This Court, therefore, endorsed the view in Colgate Palmolive5 that "whereas it is open for a person to exaggerate the claims relating to its goods or services and embellish their virtues or benefits; it is not open for a person to denigrate or disparage the goods of another person".
58. Apropos puffery, this Court further noted, referring to the decisions of the Chancery Division in De Beers Abrasive v. International General Electric Co. 26 that puffery, as a matter of pure logic, involved an element of denigration of the rival's goods. The distinction between permissible puffery and impermissible puffery was held to be accurately captured in the following passage from De Beers Abrasive26:
(v) Statements of facts cannot be untrue.
(vi) Puffery is allowed as it is not to be taken seriously.
(vii) Puffery is not, therefore, to be tested on the anvil of truth. Some element of hyperbole and untruth is inherent in puffery.
(viii) Exaggeration of one's virtues is allowed, but denigration of others is not.
(ix) An advertisement cannot claim that a competitor's goods are bad, undesirable or inferior.
(v) Puffery is the only exception, as puffery, by its very nature, involves exaggeration and embellishment, and an element of untruth is bound to exist in it. Untruth in puffery is permissible only because puffery is inherently not taken seriously by the average consumer. Puffery is not, therefore, to Neutral Citation Number : 2023:DHC:3418 be tested on the anvil of truth. Some element of hyperbole and untruth is inherent in puffery.