Bombay Shaving Co. Takes Down Allegedly Disparaging Ad After Gillette Suit In Delhi High Court
Riya Rathore
17 Sept 2026 11:33 AM IST
The Delhi High Court today noted that Visage Lines Personal Care Private Limited, the parent company of Bombay Shaving Company, has taken down a disputed advertisement after Gillette India filed a product disparagement suit.
On a separate issue, Justice Jyoti Singh declined Gillette's request to immediately restrain a newly released advertisement by Bombay Shaving Company, saying the court would not intervene without a proper challenge being brought before it.
“I am not going to permit you, you do what you have to. If there is a challenge, there will be a challenge,” Justice Jyoti Singh orally remarked.
Counsel for Bombay Shaving Company offered to file a reply within a day so that the court could hear the dispute concerning the new advertisement separately.
The case is a disparagement suit filed by Gillette India against Bombay Shaving Company, which had led the court on Wednesday to direct takedown of an advertisement mocking a courtroom setting.
At Thursday's hearing, counsel for Bombay Shaving Company, Advocate Prithvi Singh, confirmed the company had complied in full, removing all references to the court and the earlier litigation as undertaken, and had since put out a new advertisement.
Gillette's counsel, Senior Advocate Chander M. Lall, objected to this new advertisement as well, calling it obscene, and pressed the court to step in immediately, remarking that the court would effectively be giving "its stamp of approval to this obscenity" if it let the ad continue unchecked.
Bombay Shaving Company's side argued that since the new advertisement makes no reference to Gillette and does not disparage it in any way, Gillette had no basis to seek a restraint in this suit, though other remedies might be available to it separately if the content itself was objectionable on other grounds.
The court declined to weigh in on the new advertisement itself at this stage, leaving that dispute to be argued properly once Bombay Shaving Company files its reply.
The court formally recorded Bombay Shaving Company's compliance with the takedown of the earlier, court-mocking advertisement, from all channels under the company's control, without prejudice to its rights.
The company was granted two weeks to file its reply in the suit, with any rejoinder from Gillette due before the next hearing.
On a separate concern Gillette had raised, that clips and reposts of the original advertisement continue to circulate through other social media accounts and influencers beyond Bombay Shaving Company's direct control, the court granted Gillette liberty to write directly to the relevant platforms seeking removal of such content, with the option to come back to court if the platforms fail to act.
It was also noted that a revised version of the advertisement, shared by Bombay Shaving Company in keeping with the court's earlier direction, had not been accepted by Gillette.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on November 06.
For Gillette: Senior Counsel C.M. Lall, along with Advocates Ankur Sangal, Pragya Mishra, Saumya Bajpayee and Yashodhra Raina
For Bombay Shaving Company: Advocates Prithvi Singh, Vardaan Anand and Ruchika Yadav