The Bombay High Court on Monday imposed ₹4 crore costs on Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. for alleged violation of its 2023 ad-interim order that restrained Patanjali from selling camphor products. The order was passed in relation to a trademark infringement suit filed by Mangalam Organics Ltd. against Patanjali.
Single Bench judge Justice R.I. Chagla passed the order and noted that Patanjali had made a ‘wilful and deliberate breach’ of the court’s order and there is no doubt that the firm had the intention to flout the court orders.
Justice Chagla disposed of the petition filed by Mangalam Organics which is seeking contempt action against Patanjali for selling Mangalam camphor despite the court’s restraining order. The Bench has directed Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. to deposit ₹4 crore within two weeks. Earlier this month, the High Court had directed Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. to deposit ₹50 lakh in addition.
Copyright infringement suit
Representing Mangalam Organics, advocates Hiren Kamod, Anees Patel, Usha Chandrasekhar and Avisha Mehta, instructed by advocate Suvarna Joshi had filed a copyright infringement suit against Patanjali alleging copyright claims on their camphor products. The Bombay High Court on August 30, 2023, in an interim order, had restricted Patanjali from selling or advertising its camphor products. After the court’s restraining order, Mangalam Organics later informed the court that Patanjali had violated the court order by continuing its sale and advertisement of the same camphor products.
In June 2024, Rajneesh Mishra, director of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd., tendered an unconditional apology, and, in an affidavit, he admitted that the company had continued to display and sell the restrained camphor products. Even after the injunction order was passed, the firm admitted selling camphor products amounting to ₹49,67,861 till June 2024. Representing Patanjali, senior advocate Zal Andhyarujina and advocate Serena Jethmalani, instructed by advocates Archit Virmani, Atul Gupta, Anshul Kochar and R. Kumar, also stated that camphor products worth ₹25,94,505 were still with the distributors but their client (Patanjali) had stopped the sale.
However, Mangalam Organics claimed that Patanjali continued the business of selling and supplying camphor products even after June 2024 and the product was available for purchase on Patanjali’s website on July 8, 2024. Patanjali had accepted the same on the July 8 hearing at the High Court. On this, the court ordered Patanjali to deposit ₹50 lakh and directed Mangalam Organics to tender an affidavit with details of all the breaches of the order by Patanjali.
