Delhi High Court upholds order restraining Dabur from selling Cool King oil in Emami Navratna-like packaging

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed Dabur's appeal against an order restraining it from selling its cooling oil product 'Cool King Thanda Tael' in a trade dress found to be deceptively similar to that of Emami Limited’s well-known 'Navratna Ayurvedic Oil' [Dabur Vs Emami].

A Bench of Justices Kameswara Rao and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora upheld a single judge Bench's order in the matter.

By a judgment delivered on January 31, single judge Justice Tejas Karia held that Dabur’s packaging amounted to passing off and was a deliberate imitation of the distinctive trade dress associated with Emami’s Navratna oil, which has been in continuous use since 1989.

Emami approached the Court seeking an interim injunction against Dabur’s Cool King Thanda Tael, alleging that its trade dress copied the key visual elements of Navratna Ayurvedic Oil.

It pointed to the red colour scheme, similarly shaped transparent bottle, flip-top cap, depiction of hibiscus flowers, ice cubes and ayurvedic herbs, and the overall red, white, yellow and gold layout.

An ex parte injunction was granted in August 2023, but a Division Bench later set it aside since Dabur had not been heard. The matter was then reheard on merits on the question of whether Dabur's packaging amounted to a passing off of Emami's product's packaging.

Emami argued that its Navratna product was the market leader in the cooling oil segment, with around 66 percent market share, and that its trade dress had acquired secondary meaning through over three decades of use, advertising and sales.

Dabur opposed the injunction, saying red, ice, herbs and words like “thanda” and “cool” were common to the trade. It also relied on the prominent “DABUR” house mark.

The single-judge Bench rejected Dabur’s defence and held that the overall trade dress was deceptively similar. It said Dabur had copied the essential features of Emami’s packaging, including colour, bottle shape, cap, liquid colour and imagery.

The Court held that Emami had prima facie established goodwill, misrepresentation and likelihood of damage, and restrained Dabur from selling Cool King Thanda Tael in the impugned trade dress.

A Division Bench of the Court today upheld this ruling.

Dabur was represented by Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi with Advocates Kripa Pandit, Prabhu Tandon, Christopher Thomas, Krisna Gambhir, Shreya Sethi, Jawahar Lal and Meghna Kumar.

Emami Limited was represented by Senior Advocate Abhimanyu Bhandari with advocates Roohe Hina Dua, Harshit Khanduja, Shruti Gargand and Piyush Jain