Delhi High Court restrains Domex from airing commercial targeting Harpic

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday restrained Hindustan Unilever (HUL) owned toilet cleaner brand, Domex, from airing an advertisement that visibly disparaged it's competitor brand, Harpic, by presenting it's product as the superior one in terms of removing malodour [Reckitt Benckiser India Pvt Ltd. vs. Hindustan Unilever]..A Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh stayed the order passed by single-judge, Justice Jayant Nath who had previously said that Harpic ought not to be 'hypersensitive' and that comparative advertising is permitted.The single-judge had ordered,"Comparative advertising is permissible for establishing superiority of one's goods without defaming the others." Reversing the same, the Delhi High Court passed an interim order in favour of Reckitt Benckiser's product, Harpic.The Court also expressed its displeasure at the fact that HUL had acted contrary to the Court's last order wherein the Court had asked them not to the run the ad and further granted them some additional time to file an undertaking."We were inclined to pass an order that day but you said you want to file an undertaking. What appears is that you have violated the understanding. We are going to take note of your client's conduct," the Court said on Wednesday.Finally, the Court said that this was a case involving the 'running down of a product' by the respondent.With respect to the same, the Court ordered,"We are inclined to pass a stay to restrain the respondent (HUL) from airing the said advertisement on TV or on any other form of media."Thereafter, the Court directed that an additional affidavit be filed by HUL..Senior Advocate Chander Lall, who appeared on behalf of Harpic's maker, Reckitt Benckiser, informed the Court that the advertisement was still being aired on Malayalam and Tamil channels."All of them (regional channels) wouldn't have violated had they been informed in the first place. Moreover, third party channels are running these ads on Youtube still. No communication has been made to them," he said.Senior Advocate Sudhir Chandra, appearing on behalf of HUL submitted that all videos have been taken down from YouTube."We can file an affidavit. We have also informed all the advertisers," he said.The Court said that if the advertisers had been informed by HUL and yet the advertisement was being aired, then action must be taken against the third parties still airing it.The matter will be heard next on March 16.The petition was filed by advocate Nancy Roy on behalf of the plaintiff.