Toothpaste war: HC rejects Colgate's plea against Pepsodent

The Delhi High Court today declined to restrain consumer goods manufacturer Hindustan Uniliver Ltd from advertising its toothpaste Pepsodent Germicheck, saying its commercial does not "denigrate" the product of its competitor Colgate.
Dismissing Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd's plea for interim injunction against HUL, Justice S Muralidhar said, "The court is not persuaded to hold at this stage that the impugned TV advertisement or the printed advertisement by HUL is disparaging of or denigrating the product Colgate Strong Teeth of the plaintiffs (Colgate).
"The court is not satisfied that the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for the grant of an ad-interim injunction as prayed for. The application is dismissed," the court said.

On August 9, HUL had launched its Pepsodent Germicheck's advertisement which compared the toothpaste's germ attack power with Colgate Strong Teeth claiming that Pepsodent Germicheck has "130 per cent superior" germ attack power over Colgate Strong Teeth after four hours of brushing.
Rejecting Colgate's argument that as per the commercial, Colgate Strong Teeth was "zero" when compared to Pepsodent's 130 per cent, the judge said, "The court is unable to view it that way."
"It is arguable that the appearance of the two indices at the bottom of the left and right screens as well as the 'Super' which shows that Colgate Strong Teeth is indexed 100 per cent and Pepsodent Germi Check 130 per cent will enable a discerning viewer to appreciate the comparison in its proper perspective," the court said.

"In any event, the claim of 130 per cent germicheck power appears more consistent with the defendant (HUL) puffing up Pepsodent GSP to show that it is better than Colgate Strong Teeth. It is difficult to view this as denigrating, slandering or rubbishing Colgate Strong Teeth," the court order said.