COLGATE PALMOLIVE COMPANY & ANR. vs DABUR INDIA LTD.

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + CS(COMM) 567/2019, I.A. 14008/2019, I.A. 14501/2019, I.A. 8645/2025 & I.A. 10039-40/2025 Reserved on: 08th September, 2025 Date of Decision: 12th January, 2026 COLGATE PALMOLIVE COMPANY & ANR. .....Plaintiffs Through: Mr. Amit Sibal, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Saif Khan, Mr. Achuthan Sreekumar, Mr. Rohil Bansal and Ms. Smriti Nair, Advs. versus DABUR INDIA LTD. .....Defendant Through: Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Manish Kumar Mishra, Mr. Jawahar Lal, Ms. Akansha Singh, Mr. Saransh Saini, Ms. Meghna Kumar and Ms. Riya Kumar, Advs. % CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA JUDGMENT MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA, J: I.A. No. 10040/2025 1. The present suit has been filed by the Plaintiffs seeking inter alia a permanent injunction restraining the Defendant from referring to Plaintiffs’ trademark COLGATE and the packaging of COLGATE STRONG TEETH TOOTHPASTE in its advertisement campaigns. The suit also seeks a CS(COMM) 567/2019 Page 1 of 26 permanent injunction restraining the Defendant from making advertisements that may contain misleading information regarding the ingredients of the Plaintiffs’ products. 2. I.A. 10040/2025 [‘the captioned application’] dated 16th April 2025, under Order VI Rule 17 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 [‘CPC’], has been filed by the Plaintiffs seeking amendment of the plaint dated 9th October 2019, in order to challenge the Defendant’s advertisements dated 20th March, 2025 and 14th April, 2025 [‘impugned advertisements of 2025’]. CASE SET UP BY THE PLAINTIFFS IN THE APPLICATION 3. Learned senior counsel sets up the Plaintiffs’ case as follows: 4. On 20th March 2025, the Defendant published a half-page [front page] advertisement in the Times of India disparaging FLUO