According to latest news reports, P&G which owns “Tide” has knocked the doors of the Calcutta High Court in relation to HUL’s controversial Rin advertisement.
According this news report, a few weeks back, Tide Natural’s advertisement which claimed a special fragrance was challenged by HUL before the Madras High Court on grounds that the claim was false. The Court too seemed to hold the same view since P&G couldn’t prove its claim. We’ll discuss this judgment in a later post.
This piece of information piqued my interest and I ran a search for other matters involving the same parties and learnt that this is the second matter before the Calcutta High Court in a matter of just over 15 days involving the two parties. The earlier one was decided on February 15, 2010 and that too was a case of disparagement. In that judgment, HUL claimed disparagement of its fairness cream by P&G and sought an interim injunction. But the Court held there was no prima facie disparagement and refused the grant of an interim injunction. The main suit however is yet to be decided.
It appears both the companies have decided to cast off their gloves and bare their knuckles. For now, we’ll watch the current proceedings before the Calcutta High Court.
