Sc Quashes Hind Lever Mrtpc Plea

The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed an Hindustan Lever (HLL) appeal against an interim order of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) prohibiting the company from airing its advertisement claiming 102 per cent superiority of the new Pepsodent a brand marketed by HLL over the leading toothpaste.

The Supreme Court verdict was delivered by a division bench consisting of Justice S C Sen and Justice M Jagannadha Rao.

HLL had sought a stay on the proceedings in the MRTPC, which had ruled on a complaint filed by Colgate Palmolive that the new Pepsodent advertisement campaign must stop. The commission had said that the issue was too complicated for it to handle and therefore an independent panel of three experts should be appointed to look into it.

The panel was to consist of technical experts, one each to be nominated by Hindustan Lever, Colgate Palmolive and the MRTPC. It was to submit its report in four months.

The injunction is for this limited period only. The injunction, HLL had said before the Supreme Court, was based on wrong procedure because the onus was on Colgate, which had filed the complaint, to prove that the superiority claim was false. The commission had presumed falsity on the part of HLL which was not permissible, HLL counsel Harish Salve had argued.

Colgate Palmolive had submitted before the court that it had lost tremendously in the toothpaste market after HLL had started its new Pepsodent campaign. Senior counsel Soli Sorabjee had said the campaign was inherently deceptive as it alleged that Colgate was an inferior product.

The pictures and caption going with the ads were injurious to its (Colgates) reputation. The commission had rightly passed an injunction against HLL, he had said.

Sorabjee had further said that HLL was continuing with the ad campaign in a modified form despite the commissions injunction, causing immense harm to Colgates sales.

HLL had earlier submitted to MRTPC comprehensive technical data in support of new Pepsodents superiority claim, but the commission and Colgate Palmolive had remained unimpressed.

It had also said that Pepsodent had a well-known and internationally proved anti-bacterial agent triclosan which was effective against oral germs.