‘Rooh Afza’ wins, ‘Dil Afza’ loses, Supreme Court upholds High Court verdict

Supreme Court: The country’s largest court, the Supreme Court, is the final forum for the disposal of all kinds of legal matters. All kinds of interesting cases keep coming here. One such case came related to the well-known Sharbat ‘Rooh Afza’. In this case, the Supreme Court said that the decision of the High Court to stop the production of a sherbet similar to the name ‘Dil Afza’ is correct.

During this, a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice inspected the bottles of both the sherbets on their table and inspected them closely. Hamdard Pharmacy is manufacturing and selling Rooh Afza Sharbat since 1907. A company named Sadar Laboratories started selling a product similar to Sharbat Dil Afza in 2020. Sadar Laboratories said that since 1976, it is making medicine by the name of Dil Afza. In such a situation, he cannot be stopped from making sherbet with the same name.

single bench order

In December 2020, a single bench of the Delhi High Court, while accepting the claim of Sadar Laboratories, allowed it to manufacture and sell Dil Afza. Against this, Hamdard National Foundation appealed in the Division Bench of the High Court.

Division Bench’s decision

In the decision given last year, the bench of 2 judges of Delhi High Court said that Hamdard Rooh Afza is a reputed brand. Selling a similar product under a very similar name is a violation of trademark law. The Division Bench of the High Court ordered Sadar Laboratories to immediately stop the manufacture and sale of Dil Afza Sharbat.

‘We will not return the sherbet’

Sadar Laboratories reached the Supreme Court against the order of the Division Bench of the High Court. The matter was taken up today in the bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala. In the debate that went on for a while, the lawyers of both the sorbet makers justified their claim. Dil Afza’s lawyer handed over the bottle of both the sherbets to the judges. On this, the Chief Justice jokingly said, “We are taking them, but will not return them.”

After this, the three judges looked at both the bottles in turn. The judges also read out the judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court. In the end, the Supreme Court said that there is no deficiency in the order given by the Division Bench of the High Court. We will not interfere in the matter.

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