Dabur India received criticism from the Calcutta High Court on Thursday for insisting on orders to take down all URLs of a video made by content creator Dhruv Rathee on their product, Real fruit juice.
Earlier, the court had ordered YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to block public access to Rathee's video, in which he demonstrated the negative effects of Real fruit juice on consumers' health, particularly children.
Rathee's counsel, Nakul Gandhi, explained that his client had made the video 'private', which would allow him to receive notifications if someone else uploaded it, which can then be deleted.
"My client had made the video private. This would mean that if any user downloads the URL and uploads the said video on their channel, my client will get a notification. And then he can directly delete that video. But if he pulls down the original video, he will not get any notification of the video being uploaded from other sources. But now, we have complied with the courts order and have deleted the video," Gandhi pointed out.
Dabur's counsel, Debnath Ghosh, objected and requested Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur to issue orders to pull down several such videos, uploaded from other channels as well.
The court refused this request and granted Rathee four weeks to file an affidavit, stating that Dabur needed to demonstrate any malafide on Rathee's part before pursuing the case against an individual.
The court adjourned the hearing until May 8.
"You (Dabur) show that there has been some malafide on his (Rathee) part. If you can show that he has uploaded all those videos then we will pass orders (against Rathee). Else I cannot allow a multinational company to pursue a case like this against an individual," the judge observed.
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On Ghosh's insistence for orders, the judge shot back.
"Mr Ghosh, please don't try this with me. You cannot start a Mahabharat like this. Let him file an affidavit."
In a previous order on March 15, the court noted that Rathee's video made repeated direct references to Dabur's Real product, which crossed a line.
"The product of the petitioner Real has been repeatedly targeted both overtly and covertly in the impugned video. Any consumer would understand that the product shown in the impugned video is that of the petitioner’s product Real. Prima facie, at the ad interim stage even though the underlying intent of the impugned video may not be objectionable, in making repeated direct and brazen references to the product Real of the petitioner, the Lakshaman Rekha or the Rubicon has been crossed," the Court had observed in its order dated March 15.
Dabur was represented by advocates Debnath Ghosh, S Prasad, B Mukherjee, and N Banerjee, while Rathee was represented by advocate Nakul Gandhi.
Senior advocate Utpal Bose and advocate Phiroze Edulji represented YouTube, while advocate Sakabda Ray represented Meta India.
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