Bombay High Court restrains SEBAMED from broadcasting ads disparaging Hindustan Unilever soaps

In a major relief to Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Wipro Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., the Bombay High Court on Thursday permanently restrained USV Private Limited, owner of SEBAMED soap brand, from broadcasting or telecasting advertisements, print or electronic, ridiculing or condemning the soap brands LUX, DOVE and PEARS owned by HUL..Single-judge Justice AK Menon also directed USV to destroy all copies of the advertisements that the company might have been using so far and restrained them from publishing or broadcasting any further derogatory material.USV’s counsel sought a stay on the order in order to appeal against the same before the appellate forum. Both HUL and Wipro lawyers vehemently opposed the stay. Advocate Hiren Kamod for HUL requested the Court to grant USV time to destroy the allegedly disparaging material.However, Justice Menon opined USV ought to be given an opportunity to challenge the order before appellate forum and allowed the prayer for stay. “If appellate court does something then so be it. But don’t come back here now,” Justice Menon said on a lighter note..HUL was aggrieved by three Hindi audio visual advertisements of USV in respect of its product SEBAMED cleansing bar.The advertisement purportedly disparaged 'LUX SOAP', 'DOVE BAR' and 'PEARS SOAP' by insinuating that using these soaps was equivalent to using 'RIN DETERGENT' soap, belonging to HUL, because of the pH levels of the respective products.HUL argued that USV through its higher priced product, was only creating apprehension in the minds of consumers against HUL’s leading affordable soap products with a view to make unjust gains through fraudulent means.The argument by the petitioning companies was that pH is not the sole determinant of the impact of a product on skin in terms of harshness.HUL also alleged that USV infringed upon its registered trademark by using the marks on LUX, DOVE, PEARS and RIN..The High Court had earlier temporarily restrained USV from using the disparaging advertisements. However, when USV assured that it would drop references to the specific soap brands of HUL, the High Court had permitted USV to use the amended advertisements until yesterday's judgment. .Senior Advocates Virag Tulzapurkar and Dr Birendra Saraf with advocates Hiren Kamod, Nishad Nadkarni, Khushboo Jhunjhunwala briefed by Khaitan & Co. appeared on behalf of HUL.Wipro was represented by Senior Advocate Nikhil Sakhardande with Advocates Nitesh Jain, Siddharth Ranade, Kaazvin Kapadia and Ritika Ajitsaria briefed by Trilegal.Advocate Bimal Rajasekhar appeared for USV.[Read order]