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Informist, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026

 

--HC asks Kent RO to take down advt disparaging Urban Co's water purifiers 

 

By Surya Tripathi

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked Kent RO Systems Ltd. to take down in 10 days advertisements that allegedly disparaged Urban Co. Ltd.'s water purifier and not run similar disparaging advertisements. "I cannot sit and edit your (Kent RO) advertisement. You advertise your product, don't denigrate their product," observed Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani.

 

Urban Co. had moved the court seeking an injunction against Kent RO Systems from running advertisements that disparaged the former's water purifiers. Urban Co. said that Kent RO has made statements against the petitioner's water purifier that gives 2-year filter life and a 2-year unconditional warranty. Kent RO has also made adverse statements against Urban Co.'s water purifier which needs no service for two years. The high court has sought Kent RO Systems' reply on Urban Co.'s injunction suit. 

 

"All law that is cited (by Urban Co.) is against you (Kent RO)," said Justice Bhambhani. "Your disparagement is very wide. The same figures you are citing today, where do you say in your advertisement? TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) figure, hard water, where do you say all these?" he said. Justice Bhambhani said that Urban Co. was the company worst impacted by Kent RO's advertisements. Others have not been impacted, but they will also come, he said.

 

Urban Co. said that Kent RO in its advertisement has said that the two year filter life, two year unconditional warranty and no service being needed for two years is seriously injurious to health, risky, impossible and a marketing gimmick. Kent RO has said that if you use these types of water purifiers, then you will only drink impurities, it said. Kent RO cannot call their competitors' items bad, said the petitioner.

 

Kent RO has put a red cross on the two-year filter life, two-year unconditional warranty and the two-year no service claim, said the petitioner. According to Kent RO, not needing a service for two years on a water purifier is just a marketing gimmick and even an air conditioner needs regular service, how can water purifiers not, said the petitioner. These statements are false, misleading and disparaging, said the petitioner. 

 

In Kent RO's advertisement, a mother says to his son that the water purifier with a two year filter life does not feel completely safe to her, sounds risky and is a pure marketing gimmick, said Urban Co. Kent RO is disparaging the petitioner's water purifier features as a bogus claim, said the petitioner. According to Kent RO, relying on water purifiers for two years with no service and no filter change is a serious health risk, given Indian water conditions and this is false marketing, said Urban Co. The claims of two years of no service and other features are based upon tightly controlled lab tests, said Urban Co. 

 

Kent RO argued that it was permissible in law to pick up certain characteristics of the rival party and issue advertisements on the same. Kent RO said that Urban Co. was not telling the truth to their customers, which the advertisements have highlighted. 

 

Urban Co. alleged that Kent RO was charging 60% of the cost of the water purifier from people for servicing, and due to the petitioner's water purifiers they have been affected. Urban Co. said that it is a listed company and Kent RO are applying for listing so they are putting out these advertisements. 

 

Urban Co. reported a consolidated net loss of INR 921.20 million for the June quarter, against a profit of INR 69.4 million reported for the year-ago quarter. The company had reported a loss of INR 1.61 billion for the trailing quarter. 

 

Last year, Kent RO Systems had received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for an initial public offer comprising only an offer for sale of up to 10.09 million shares. However, in May, Kent RO Systems delayed its plans to go public due to volatile markets, worsened by the conflict between Iran and Israel, according to media reports.

 

At 1320 IST, shares of Urban Co. traded 1.4% lower at INR 137.84 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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