Patanjali Foods: Bombay HC Issues Order Against Meta Platforms Inc - Facebook & WhatsApp

The Bombay High Court recently passed a John Doe order in the case of Patanjali Foods Limited v. Meta Platforms Inc & Ors., directing Meta and all others to take down defamatory videos which allegedly infringed the registered trademark of Patanjali Food. 

Single-judge bench of Justice Manish Pitale also restrained Meta platforms by way of temporary injunction from circulating videos which Patanjali had objected to in its suit alleging infringement of its trademark ‘Mahakosh’, an edible oil product manufactured by it.

Patanjali approached the Court aggrieved by a video circulating on Facebook containing disparaging remarks against the product. The company claimed that the video not only infringed Patanjali’s registered trademark but it had the effect of spreading misleading and false information and impression in the minds of the general public with regard to the product bearing the registered trademark. Patanjali owned the registered trademark since 1998 and had garnered substantial goodwill.

Patanjali came across the videos uploaded on Meta’s platforms – Facebook and Whatsapp – in April 2023. It noticed that a particular community was spreading the misinformation with a call to boycott the product. Patanjali issued cease and desist notices to Meta platforms but received no response. This compelled it to approach the High Court.

After examining the material, the Court was satisfied that prima facie the ingredients of Section 29 of The Trademarks Act, 1999 (infringement of registered trademarks) was made out. The Court noted that the contents of the video in question, available on Meta platforms prima facie appears to have infringed upon the registered trademark of Patanjali. A strong prima facie case was indeed made out for granting ad-interim reliefs in favour of Patanjali.

In view of this, the Court passed an order of temporary injunction restraining Meta platforms from infringing on Patanjali’s registered trademarks, including ‘Mahakosh’.