HC stays ₹4.5 cr trademark infringement fine on Patanjali Ayurved

A division bench of the Bombay high court on Monday stayed a single judge bench order imposing a penalty of ₹4.5 crore on Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, in a trademark infringement case filed by Mangalam Organics Ltd, world’s largest camphor manufacturer

MUMBAI: A division bench of the Bombay high court on Monday stayed a single judge bench order imposing a penalty of ₹4.5 crore on Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, in a trademark infringement case filed by Mangalam Organics Ltd, world’s largest camphor manufacturer.

HC stays ₹4.5 cr trademark infringement fine on Patanjali Ayurved

A division bench presided over by justice AS Chandurkar and justice Rajesh Patil, however, permitted the ₹50 lakh amount, already deposited by Patanjali Ayurved, to remain with the court during the appeal process.

The penalty was imposed on Patanjali Ayurved by a single judge bench of justice RI Chagla in July 2024, after noticing that the company, promoted by Baba Ramdev, had breached an August 2023 order restraining it from selling a camphor product. The contempt petition filed by Mangalam Organics Ltd claimed that Patanjali Ayurved had committed breach of interim orders restraining it from selling the product - Patanjali Camphor Cone.

The court, noting a deliberate and willful breach of its orders, imposed a penalty of ₹4 crore on the company. This was in addition to an amount of ₹50 lakh, which the court had earlier ordered the Haridwar-based company to deposit with the prothonotary and senior master of the high court. Acting on an intellectual property rights suit filed by Mangalam Organics Ltd, the court had passed an interim order on August 30, 2023, restraining Patanjali Ayurved from selling the camphor product. However, earlier this year, Mangalam Organics filed a plea, pointing out that Patanjali Ayurved was still manufacturing as well as selling the product and it was available for sale at Patanjali Mega Store in Virar.

On June 21, when the pleas came up for hearing, a representative of Patanjali Ayurved filed an affidavit, tendering unconditional apology “with folded hands” and claimed that the sale of the camphor product at the mega store in Virar was “inadvertent and un-intentional”. However, Mangalam Organics stated that the claim of inadvertent sale was false and misleading, and Patanjali Ayurved was guilty of willful breach of the injunction order.

Later, when the matter came up for hearing before justice Chagla, the company admitted on affidavit that it had been supplying the camphor product even after the injunction order passed by the court on August 30, 2023, and sold products worth ₹49.57 lakh after the order. It added that a stock worth ₹25.94 lakh was still lying with their wholesalers, distributors and authorised stores. Justice Chagla then imposed the additional penalty of ₹4 crore on Patanjali Ayurved for contempt of court, which has been challenged by the company before the division court.