Let written statement to the plaint be positively filed within 30 days Along with the written statement, the Defendant shall also file an affidavit of admission/denial of the documents of the Plaintiff, without which the written statement shall not be taken on record. Along with the replication, if any, filed by the Plaintiff, an affidavit of admission/denial of documents of the Defendant, be filed by the Plaintiff, without which the replication shall not be taken on record. If any of the parties wish to seek inspection of any documents, the same shall be sought and given within the timelines. This judgment was pronounced by the vacation judge Hon’ble Justice Prathiba M. Singh at Delhi High Court in the matter of Dabur India Limited v. Marico Limited [CS (COMM) 583 of 2020].
The Plaintiff has filed the present suit seeking injunction/damages for disparagement, denigration, etc. The case of the Plaintiff is that they manufacture ‘DABUR Chyawanprash’ which is an ayurvedic proprietary medicine which helps to boost immunity. It is the case of the Plaintiff that the Plaintiff is the market leader in the manufacturing of chyawanprash with a market share of more than 60%. The ingredients in chyawanprash are as per the prescribed ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita which has about 48 ingredients. The details of the ‘DABUR Chyawanprash’ product have been set out in the plaint. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant has launched a product called ‘Saffola AROGYAM chyawan amrut’ in the advertisement of which, it seeks to denigrate and disparage the chyawanprash product category as a whole.
The Hon’ble High court while deciding upon the matter held that “the matter has been heard in detail, on the ad-interim relief to be considered by this Court. However, after the hearing, counsels for the Defendant obtained instructions. Mr. Sandeep Sethi, ld. Senior Counsel submits that the Defendant is willing to modify the impugned print advertisement, in the following manner:
- The word chyawanprash would not be pre-fixed by either of the words – ordinary or saadharan, or any other adjective;
- The container which is currently being used to depict chyawanprash would be modified into a rectangular container, without the image of any family appearing on it and without any cap.
With these two modifications being carried out by the Defendant, which is without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties, no further orders are called for in this interim application. If any fresh advertisement is issued by the Defendant which is comparative in nature, the same shall strictly be in terms of the order contained above. Application is disposed of in the above terms.”
