The Delhi High Court has sought Patanjali Ayurved’s stand on a lawsuit filed by Dabur, alleging that Patanjali’s advertisements disparage its Chyawanprash product.
As per reports, on December 24, Justice Mini Pushkarna issued summons to the defendants, Patanjali Ayurved and Patanjali Foods, seeking their reply in the case.
“Accordingly, let the plaint be registered as a suit. Issue summons.. Let the written statement be filed by the defendants within thirty days from today,” the order stated.
Dabur has alleged that the promotion of Patanjali Special Chyawanprash included deliberate and misleading statements aimed at discrediting its own product, Dabur Chyawanprash.
The court issued a notice regarding an application for interim relief and scheduled the next hearing for January 30.
The plea stated that the advertisements claimed Patanjali Special Chyawanprash to be the “original” and therefore “special,” as well as “shreshtham/sarv-shreshth,” or the best Chyawanprash. It further asserted that it was made following the “charak, sushrut, dhanwantari, chyawan sage tradition,” implying that other manufacturers lacked this knowledge and were thus ordinary.
The lawsuit stated, “In essence, the defendants make a brazen claim in the impugned TVC and in the impugned print ad that only the Ayurvedic book used by the defendants is the ‘original method’ or formulae to make Chyawanprash, thereby rubbishing other Ayurvedic books ‘stipulated’ in the first schedule of the D&C Act (Drugs and Cosmetics).”
The plea sought a permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from airing advertisements or engaging in any activity that disparages the plaintiff’s goodwill, reputation, or its product, “Chyawanprash – Dabur Chyawanprash.”
