Madras High Court Grants GRB Dairy Foods Leave To Sue Rival Ghee Brand Over Disparaging Instagram Reel

Justice K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi passed the order on September 17.

GRB Dairy Foods manufactures and markets food products, including ghee, under the "GRB" brand, and claims to have built substantial goodwill over several decades of business.

Sri Lakshmi Industries, a competing ghee manufacturer based in Andhra Pradesh, sells its products under the "NG Ghee" mark and promotes them through its website and social media, including Instagram.

GRB alleged that Sri Lakshmi Industries published a reel containing false and defamatory claims about GRB and its ghee, causing serious harm to its reputation and business.

GRB's proposed suit seeks a permanent injunction against further publication of the reel and similar material, a mandatory injunction directing its removal, and damages for the alleged reputational loss.

Since Sri Lakshmi Industries is based in Andhra Pradesh, GRB needed the court's leave under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent to sue it in Chennai, where the Madras High Court's original jurisdiction lies.

GRB argued that it does business extensively within Chennai, that its GRB-branded products are sold there, and that the impugned reel had been disseminated to consumers in Chennai as well, causing injury to its goodwill within the court's jurisdiction.

The court agreed that this was sufficient at this stage, holding that although GRB simply carrying on business in Chennai might not alone be enough, this fact combined with the specific allegation that the reel concerned products marketed in Chennai and had reached consumers there satisfied the requirement that at least part of the cause of action arose within the court's jurisdiction.

The court allowed the application, granting GRB Dairy Foods leave under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent to institute its proposed suit against Sri Lakshmi Industries before the Madras High Court.

For Vaidehi Agro: Advocate Arun C. Mohan