The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted the company Dabur interim relief and ordered Youtuber Dhruv Rathee to erase the problematic portions from the video.
Dhruv Rathee’s latest video evaluating the health impacts of fruit juices has placed him in a legal battle with Dabur, which says he intentionally disparaged their packaged fruit products ‘Real’ juice.
The bench of Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur stated, “Prima facie, even if the fundamental objective of the impugned film may not be offensive, in making numerous direct and blatant references to the petitioner’s product Real, the Lakshamanrekha or the Rubicon has been crossed. The petitioner’s product Real, in my opinion, has been specifically targeted , denigrated, and discredited in the impugned video.”
Dabur argues that Rathee drew “unfair comparisons” in his video between carbonated soft drinks and RTS fruit beverages, as well as fresh fruit juices and RTS fruit beverages. He also recommended people not to eat bottled fruit juices, claiming that they cause type 2 diabetes and hair loss. According to reports, the video made a brazen reference to “Real” fruit juices, and Rathee mischievously blurred Dabur’s registered logo only partially.
It was also claimed that Rathee included slides from Dabur’s promotional advertising in the impugned video, which are clearly related to the product ‘Real’ by the general public.
“The challenged video displays a previous advertising which had been aired by the petitioner in respect of its product Real and also shows the petitioner’s product Real in a blurred way. The petitioner’s product, Real, has been frequently attacked in the contested video, both overtly and covertly. Any customer would recognise that the product depicted in the contested video is the petitioner’s product Real,” the Court observed.
The court said that Rathee infringed Dabur’s trademark by using the box, label, and logo of the product Real in the contested video without permission.
“The respondent no.1 has also violated the provisions of section 29 (9) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Copyright Act, 1957 by posting and spreading the impugned video,” it added.
The court consequently ordered Rathee to publish the contested video only after eliminating the problematic elements that contain any reference to Dabur’s product Real, and to refrain from using the petitioner’s trademark, copyright material, trade dress, package label, and logo.
The court ordered Dhruv Rathee to make the aforementioned adjustments within 7 days. The case is listed for further hearing on March 22.
