Read Time: 06 minutes

Synopsis

The Calcutta High Court recently expressed its displeasure with Dabur India's insistence on orders for removal of all the URLs of a video created by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee pertaining to Real fruit juice.

During the hearing in the matter, the single-judge bench of Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur said to Dabur that they must show that Dhruv Rathee had some malafide intention with respect to the video.

Advocate Nakul Gandhi representing Dhruv Rathee appeared virtually before the high court and submitted that Rathee had already made that video private which clarified that if any other user downloads the URL and posts the same on their channel then Rathee will be notified and he can delete the video but if he pulls down the original video, he will not receive any notifications about the video being uploaded from other sites.

Further, he said that Rathee had deleted all videos from social media after court's earlier orders.

Debnath Ghosh, counsel for Dabur, however, objected to the statements of the opposite party and requested the bench to issue orders to remove several such recordings that had been uploaded to other channels as well.

The bench while rejecting the request of Dabur India stated that the court will pass the order against Rathee if, Dabur can prove that all the videos have been uploaded by Rathee.

"I can not allow a multinational company to pursue a case like this against an individual," the bench said.

Dabur has claimed that on February 14, 2023, Dhruv Rathee uploaded a video of 21 minutes and 59 seconds on his youtube channel which specifically targets and disparages packaged fruit goods. Alleging that it unfairly compares carbonated soft drinks with RTS fruit beverages, Dabur filed a suit for the protection of intellectual property rights.

Dabur contended that the video also informs the public that drinking bottled fruit juice causes hair loss and is harmful if consumed. It was contended that the video aggressively warns consumers not to consume packaged fruit juices and strongly advises against giving packaged fruit juices to children.

By the order dated March 22, 2023, Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur had directed Rathee and other concerned parties to remove and restrain access to the impugned video from all URL/Web Links insofar as they are in the control and domain of social media (respondent no 2 to 4) on the ground that by the previous order, the court had directed the You tuber to remove the offending and targeting portions from a video which includes any reference to Real fruit juice

The court will hear the matter next on May 8, 2023. Dhruv Rathee has also been directed to file an affidavit.

Case Title: Dabur India Limited vs. Dhruv Rathee & Ors.

Statute: The Trade Marks Act,1999 and the Copyright Act, 1957