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Informist, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court has restrained 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. The high court said there is an attempt by Dabur India to imitate the essential features of Emami products' trade dress.

 

The essential features of Navratna oil's trade dress such as colour of the packaging, cap, liquid, shape of the bottle and the use of combination of red, white, yellow and gold with the essential features of ice cubes, hibiscus flowers, ayurvedic herbs are copied by Dabur India in its hair oil packaging along with the use of some Hindi words in the same order, said the court. The common features in trade dresses of Navratna oil and Cool King Thanda Tel does not appear to be a mere coincidence, said the court. Even the quantity of oil of 270 millilitres is identical in both the products, it added.

 

Dabur India has not offered any explanation or bonafide reason for adopting the trade dress for its hair oil having identical features to Navratna oil's trade dress, said the court. Emami has prima facie established its goodwill by showing the consistent and uninterrupted use of its product since 1989, said the court. The sales turnover indicates that Emami has a longstanding and formidable reputation with respect to its Navratna oil, said the court.

 

Justice Tejas Karia said there is no dispute that Emami's product was well established in the market at the time of the launch of Dabur India's product in 2023. Therefore, Dabur India cannot deny Emami's goodwill or attempt to have a free ride on the same, said Justice Karia.

 

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

 

In June 2023, Emami came to know that Dabur India had launched a product similar to Navratna oil, which was sold in bottles similar to the petitioner's hair oil bottle designs, and packed in a red-coloured packaging, similar to the plaintiff. Dabur India's product was visually, structurally and phonetically deceptively similar to the petitioner's hair oil, said Emami. Dabur India has wilfully, deliberately and with mala fide intentions copied elements from the plaintiff hair oil's trade dress to pass off its products as those of the petitioner's, said Emami. Consequently, Emami filed a permanent injunction suit in the high court against Dabur India.

 

On Monday, shares of Dabur India ended 0.6% lower at INR 499.00 on the National Stock Exchange and those of Emami ended 1.6% higher at INR 482.45.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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