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Patanjali appeals Delhi HC order restraining ‘disparaging’ Chyawanprash ads
Justice Pushkarna, ruling on a plea filed by Dabur, held that a strong prima facie case of disparagement had been made out against Patanjali.
Justice Pushkarna, ruling on a plea filed by Dabur, held that a strong prima facie case of disparagement had been made out against Patanjali.
Patanjali Ayurved Limited, led by yoga guru Ramdev, has moved the Delhi High Court against an order barring it from airing advertisements alleged to disparage rival brand Dabur Chyawanprash.
The company has filed a plea before a division bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla, challenging the 3 July ruling by Justice Mini Pushkarna, which had imposed restrictions on both television and print commercials. The appeal is likely to be heard on Friday.
Justice Pushkarna, ruling on a plea filed by Dabur, held that a strong prima facie case of disparagement had been made out against Patanjali. The court directed the company to modify its advertisements and remove references suggesting rival brands were “ordinary” or inferior.
Among the specific lines ordered to be deleted were: “Why settle for ordinary chyawanprash made with 40 herbs?”, “Toh ordinary chyawanprash kyu?”, and claims implying that only Patanjali, by virtue of Ramdev’s expertise in Ayurveda and the Vedas, was capable of making chyawanprash in line with tradition.
The single judge observed that the television commercial, narrated and fronted by Ramdev, carried particular weight given his reputation as a yoga and Vedic expert. The impression conveyed, the court said, was that only Patanjali possessed authentic Ayurvedic knowledge to prepare chyawanprash, a claim deemed misleading.
In its appeal, Patanjali has argued that the advertisements made no specific reference to Dabur and therefore could not constitute targeted disparagement. The company contends that the commercials merely promoted its own product without naming competitors.
Dabur had alleged that Patanjali’s campaign for “Patanjali Special Chyawanprash” was not only disparaging its brand but also denigrating chyawanprash products in general. The company claimed the repeated use of the term “ordinary” suggested rival offerings were inferior, while assertions that others lacked knowledge of Ayurvedic texts amounted to falsehoods and generic disparagement.
The division bench will now hear Patanjali’s appeal and decide whether the restrictions imposed by the single judge will remain in place.
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