Dabur vs Emami: Cool King packaging battle reaches Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Dabur India has moved the Supreme Court of India against a Delhi High Court order restraining it from selling its Cool King Thanda Tel hair oil in a trade dress that was found to be deceptively similar to Emami’s Navratna Ayurvedic Oil.

The matter came before a Supreme Court bench led by Justice P S Narasimha on 9 September. The court has posted the matter for hearing next week.

At the heart of the dispute is not the formulation of the two hair oils but the way they look on the shelf. The case concerns the overall trade dress of the products, including the packaging layout, colour scheme and other visual elements that form part of their overall appearance.

In May, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court upheld an earlier order restraining Dabur from using the disputed trade dress for Cool King Thanda Tel.

The High Court held that the overall visual presentation of Dabur’s product was deceptively similar to Emami’s trade dress and could potentially mislead consumers. It consequently found a case of passing off, where one company’s product presentation is alleged to create an association with another brand.

The court also noted that individual packaging elements may be common across the hair oil category. However, it was the combination and overall presentation of those elements that mattered in assessing whether consumers were likely to be confused.

Dabur had argued that its prominent house mark on the product was sufficient to distinguish Cool King Thanda Tel from Emami’s Navratna Ayurvedic Oil. The Division Bench rejected that argument, holding that the presence of the Dabur name did not, by itself, eliminate the possibility of consumer confusion arising from the overall get-up.

The Division Bench had observed that Dabur was attempting to copy the essential features of Emami’s get-up and trade dress, creating a likelihood of market damage to the latter.

The dispute goes back to a suit filed by Emami against Dabur alleging trademark infringement, passing off and unfair trade practices in connection with Cool King Thanda Tel.

In January 2026, a single judge of the Delhi High Court granted an interim injunction restraining Dabur from selling Cool King Thanda Tel using the disputed trade dress or any other packaging that was deceptively similar to Emami’s product.

Dabur subsequently challenged the order before a Division Bench. On 22 May, the Division Bench upheld the injunction, keeping the restrictions on the use of the disputed trade dress in place.

The court, however, later allowed Dabur time to exhaust existing inventory. The company has been permitted to sell stocks of the product manufactured before the January judgment until 30 September 2026, subject to specified conditions.

Any inventory remaining after the deadline is required to be recalled. Fresh manufacture of Cool King Thanda Tel using the disputed trade dress has also been barred.

The Supreme Court challenge now takes the packaging battle between the two FMCG companies to the country’s highest court. With the hearing scheduled for next week, the focus will turn to whether the High Court’s findings on trade dress and consumer confusion stand or face further scrutiny.