Delhi HC Bans Selling of Pakistani Rooh Afza on Amazon

The Delhi High Court has permanently restrained retailers on the e-commerce platform Amazon from selling sherbets made in Pakistan under the ‘Rooh Afza’ brand owned by India's Hamdard.

The court's verdict came after the Hamdard National Foundation (India) approached it with a complaint that sherbets manufactured in Pakistan were being sold in India under an identical name, reports PTI.

The high court decreed the suit in favour of Hamdard which had adopted the mark ‘Rooh Afza’ in 1907. The company sells over Rs 200 crore worth of products under this brand name annually.

Hamdard National Foundation had claimed that the infringing product is manufactured in Pakistan and does not comply with the provisions of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which governs such products, according to The Indian Express.

Rooh Afza was first introduced by Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Delhi, but after Partition, his elder son moved to India and the younger one to Pakistan. While Hamdard National Foundation owns rights over the drink in India, Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) manufactures it in Pakistan.

“The mark ‘ROOH AFZA’ has been used by the Plaintiffs for a range of products including non-alcoholic sherbets and beverages, for which Plaintiff No.2 has obtained the assignment on 11th August 1975 from Plaintiff No.1. The mark ROOH AFZA is registered in India and one of the registrations of the Plaintiffs dates back to 3rd August 1942,” the HC noted.

On September 5, the HC directed Amazon to remove the listings of Pakistan-manufactured Rooh Afza from its platform in India observing that the product has been consumed by the Indian public for more than a century now, and its quality standards have to comply with the applicable regulations prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Act and Legal Metrology Act. It is surprising that an imported product is being sold on Amazon without complete details of the manufacturer being disclosed, it said.

“The listings of infringing ‘ROOH AFZA’ products on the website http://www.amazon.in not originating from the Plaintiffs (Hamdard National Foundation) shall be removed within 48 hours,” said Justice Singh.

In the suit, Hamdard National Foundation and Hamdard Laboratories India submitted that it owns rights over ‘Hamdard’ and ‘Rooh Afza’ marks, but last year it noticed various entities were selling ‘Rooh Afza’ products on Amazon.

"While some of the listings were removed after it sent notices to the sellers and Amazon India, the court was told, the company recently found a seller offering ‘Rooh Afza’ bottles which have been manufactured in Pakistan. The same does not comply with the legal requirements in India," the court was told.

The court in the order dated September 5 said when one clicks on the link ‘Visit the Hamdard Store’, which is provided next to the product listing of Golden Leaf, the seller of imported Rooh Afza on Amazon, the consumer is taken to the webpage of Hamdard Laboratories India.

The HC observed that consumers can confuse the Pakistani product with that of the Indian one.

When the matter was called on November 11, the HC was informed that Amazon India had disclosed the details of all sellers on its platform who were selling the impugned products in its affidavit, as directed by the HC in the last order.

Hamdard National Foundation submitted that all of the “infringing listings” have been taken down and hence the reliefs sought by them “stand satisfied”.

The HC permanently restrained the six sellers which sold the infringing products on Amazon India and further directed the platform to take down any other infringing listings in accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as amended this year.