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Informist, Friday, May 22, 2026

 

--HC division bench upholds bar on Dabur selling oil similar to Emami Navratna

 

NEW DELHI – A division bench of the Delhi High Court Friday upheld a single-judge bench's January order restraining Dabur India Ltd. from selling its "Cool King Thanda Tel" hair oil or any other oil similar to Emami Ltd.'s Navratna oil, till the permanent injunction suit filed by the latter is decided. Dabur has been rightly injuncted because the trade dress of its product is deceptively similar to that of Emami's product and there is every likelihood of misleading the consumers, which constitutes passing off, said the bench of Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora.

 

The bench said there is an attempt on Dabur's part to copy the essential features of the get-up and trade dress of Emami's product so as to capture the market and there is a likelihood of damage to the latter. The attempt has not been denied but justified by Dabur stating that the presence of its house mark was enough to dispel any confusion, it said while disagreeing with Dabur's contention.

 

Dabur's goods are being sold at a low cost, which may mean the degree of care exercised by the average consumer at the time of purchase would be at a lower threshold, the court said. The presence of its house mark has little meaning in this background, given the other overlapping features in the trade dress, it said. In other words, it is only the get-up and trade dress of the product that will determine the sale of the product. Given that the trade dress and get-up of Dabur's product is likely to cause confusion, it cannot be ignored, the court said.

 

Emami said it had launched its Navratna oil in January 1989 with the catch phrase "Thanda Thanda Cool Cool", and its product has been in use ever since. Navratna oil has been the most trusted and preferred trademark in the therapeutic cooling oil segment for a long time, it said. The product is the undisputed leader in the therapeutic cooling oil segment providing multi-purpose benefits to its satisfied and growing consumer base, Emami further said. The hair oil had a market share of 66% as of 2022 in the cooling oil segment, it said.

 

Emami said it learnt in June 2023 that Dabur had launched a product similar to its Navratna oil, sold in similar-looking bottles in red packaging that resembled its own. Dabur's product was visually, structurally, and phonetically deceptively similar to its own hair oil, Emami said. Dabur India has wilfully, deliberately, and with mala fide intent copied elements from Emami Navratna hair oil's trade dress to pass off its product as that of Emami, it said. Consequently, Emami filed a permanent injunction suit against Dabur India before a single-judge bench of the high court.

 

Justice Tejas Karia of the single-judge bench had ruled that there was no dispute that Emami's product was well established in the market at the time of the launch of Dabur's oil. Therefore, Dabur India could neither deny Emami's goodwill nor attempt to ride free on it, he said.

 

Friday, shares of Dabur India closed at INR 451.05 on the National Stock Exchange, up 0.9% from Thursday. Shares of Emami ended at INR 402.90, down 3.1%.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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