Khadi And Village Industries ... vs Nitish Kumar And Anr. on 10 October, 2023
11. Dabur India Ltd v. Emami Ltd8 ("Dabur v Emami" hereinafter)
is a case, submits Mr. Sibal, in which there was a far more direct attack
than in the present case. The product under attack, by Emami, was
"Chyawanprash". Dabur was not specifically named. Dabur's
contention was that it was the market leader in Chyawanprash and that,
therefore, the commercial was in effect an attack by proxy. The
message that was sought to be conveyed was that 50% of
7 ILR (2010) 4 Del 489
Signature Not Verified
8 261 (2019) DLT 474
Digitally Signed
By:HARIOM CS(OS) 582/2023 Page 17 of 102
Signing Date:10.10.2023
16:09:29
Chyawanprash was sugar and was, therefore, unhealthy, whereas
Emami's "Chyawanprashad" had no sugar and was, therefore, healthy.
Dabur sought to contend that Chyawanprash, as an Ayurvedic
preparation, had necessarily to contain sugar. Despite this, submits Mr.
Sibal, this Court did not find Emami's commercial to be disparaging of
Dabur's Chyawanprash. Applying the approach adopted by the
Division Bench in the said case would, submits Mr. Sibal, required the
Court to, in the present case as well, hold that there is no
disparagement.