Pakistani Rooh Afza Removed From Amazon India, Delhi High Court Passes Permanent Injunction In Favour Of Hamdard Dawakhana

After ordering Amazon to remove the listings of Pakistan-manufactured Rooh Afza from its platform in India, the Delhi High Court has passed a permanent injunction in favour of Hamdard National Foundation (India) restraining various sellers from offering the infringing products.

Hamdard National Foundation and Hamdard Laboratories India (Hamdard Dawakhana) had earlier filed a suit against Amazon and some sellers which were offering the products of its Pakistani counterpart on the e-commerce site in India. Justice Prathiba M. Singh on September 5 had directed Amazon to remove the listings of infringing products from its Indian website within 48 hours and provide details of the sellers to Hamdard. 

On November 11, the counsel representing the Plaintiffs submitted that since all the details of the sellers have been received and all the infringing listings have been taken down, the reliefs sought in the plaint stand satisfied.

"Considering the submissions made and the facts recorded above, the suit shall stand decreed in terms of paragraph 38(a) of the Plaint against Defendant No.2 as also the sellers mentioned above," said the court while ordering a permanent injunction against six sellers.

The court further directed Amazon that in case any other listings infringing Hamdard's mark 'Rooh Afza' are found, the same be taken down in accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which were amended this year.

Introduced by well-known Unani practitioner Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Delhi more than a century back, Rooh Afza also became a victim of the India-Pakistan partition when his younger son decided to migrate to Pakistan and his elder son stayed in India. They started separate Hamdard companies - Hamdard National Foundation owns rights over the drink in India, Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) manufactures it in Pakistan.

In September, the plaintiffs had told the court that three purchases made by through Amazon revealed that the products being sold under the 'Roof Afza' mark originated from Karachi, Pakistan. Justice Singh in the interim order on September 5 observed that Rooh Afza is a product which has been consumed by the Indian public for over a century now.

"The same being a drink for human consumption, the quality standards have to comply with the applicable regulations prescribed by the FSSAI and LMA. It is surprising that an imported product is being sold on www.amazon.in platform without the complete details of the manufacturer being disclosed," the court had observed, adding that any consumer would confuse the Pakistani product as being connected or originating from the plaintiffs. 

Case Title: HAMDARD NATIONAL FOUNDATION (INDIA) & ANR. v. AMAZON INDIA LIMITED & ANR.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 1079

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