Delhi HC refers Parle Products and Britannia to Mediation and Conciliation over alleged disparaging commercials

The Delhi High Court has referred Parle Products and Britannia to its Mediation and Conciliation Centre with the goal to resolve the ongoing advertising dispute between the two companies over alleged disparaging commercials for Britannia Milk Bikis and Parle-G biscuits.

The court also stated that a careful examination of the two print advertisements by Britannia shows that there were multiple references to Parle-G cookies made by phrases like ‘G-NAHI’ and ‘Adhura poshan’.

Britannia Milk Bikis ad:

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Furthermore, the two print advertisements for Britannia are not to be republished while the parties explore and discuss their settlement options, according to a directive from Justice Prathiba M. Singh.

“In the process of mediation, the changes to be carried out in the impugned video advertisement which is currently accessible online shall also be discussed. Accordingly, a comprehensive settlement mediation shall be undertaken between the parties,” stated Justice Singh, in the order dated November 22.

Both Parle Products and Britannia have been directed to report the outcome of the mediation by December 14, the court stated.

But, in case the matter is not settled, Britannia may file its reply to the application seeking injunction by December 12.

In its lawsuit against Britannia, Parle has sought a permanent injunction to stop ‘Britannia Milk Bikis’ video and print ads owing to alleged disparagement and infringement in the same.

As per Parle, the impugned advertisements were made in a manner that reflect their product in bad light owing to the usage of phrases like ‘give adhoora poshan’ and ‘are sadharan biscuits’.

Giving its clarifying statement in court, Britannia stated that the video ad in question was released in 2019 and that the two print ads had been released recently. However, the FMCG player told the court that it is willing to explore friendly resolution of disputes.

Earlier in April 2022, Delhi HC had ordered Parle Products to modify two of their Parle 20-20 ads and blur the image of cookies displayed in them since they were similar to Britannia’s offerings.

At the time, the plaintiff, Britannia, had approached the court alleging that the defendant, Parle Products, was trying to promote its product ‘Parle 20-20’ cookies by denigrating, defaming and disparaging Britannia’s range of similar products.

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