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Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026

 

--Dabur moves SC against HC bar on selling oil similar to Emami's Navratna 

--SC lists Dabur plea against HC order in Emami case for hearing next wk

 

By Surya Tripathi

 

NEW DELHI – Dabur India Ltd. moved the Supreme Court Wednesday challenging a Delhi High Court's order that restrained the company 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 apex court will hear Dabur's appeal against the high court order in the Emami case next week. 

 

In May, the division bench of the Delhi High Court had said that Dabur has been rightly injuncted by its single judge bench 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. The high court bench of Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora had said there was an attempt by Dabur 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 division bench had said. The presence of Dabur's 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 the trade dress of the product that will determine the sale of the product, it said. Given that the trade dress and get-up of Dabur's product is likely to cause confusion, it cannot be ignored, the high court had said.

 

Passing off is a common law tort that protects the goodwill and reputation of a business even when a trademark is not registered. Unlike trademark infringement, which is a statutory remedy, passing off is a common law remedy that has evolved through judicial decisions. The doctrine ensures honesty and fairness in trade by preventing one trader from misrepresenting goods or services as those of another. 

 

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 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.

 

Challenging the single judge bench's injunction order, Dabur moved the division bench, which ruled in favour of Emami. Later in August, the Delhi High Court permitted Dabur India to sell 9,020 cartons of its "Cool King Thanda Tel" that were already in stock, allowing the company to clear the inventory until Sept. 30. 

 

At 1144 IST, shares of Dabur India were down 1.3% at INR 370.00 on the National Stock Exchange and those of Emami were up 2.0% at INR 370.75.  End

 

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

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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