Delhi High Court Finds 'Herbawish' Deceptively Similar To Herbalife, Temporarily Restrains Use

The Delhi High Court on 15 September temporarily restrained Ashish Kumar and his company from using “Herbawish” and “Herbawish Nutrition”, along with a similar three-leaf logo and trade dress, in a trademark infringement suit filed by Herbalife International.

A Bench comprising Justice Jyoti Singh held that “the deception is enhanced owing to common prefix 'Herba.'”

Herbalife told the Court that, besides the word marks “Herbalife” and “Herbalife Nutrition”, it owns registrations for a three-leaf device logo and product marks including “Formula 1”, “Afresh” and “Cell-U-Loss”, along with copyright in its trade dress.

The company said it had suggested retail sales of USD 8.6 billion in 2025 and operates around 63,000 nutrition clubs worldwide. It also has around 2 million followers on Instagram globally, including nearly 4 lakh in India.

It submitted that it discovered in February 2026 that the defendants were selling products under the marks “Herbawish” and “Herbawish Nutrition”, featuring a three-leaf device and trade dress similar to its own. It further contended that the defendants had copied the name of one of its products, “Personalized Protein Powder”, along with the three-leaf device.

Its counsel also argued that “Herbawish” was visually and phonetically deceptively similar to “Herbalife”, with the common prefix “Herba” increasing the likelihood of confusion.

The Court found that Herbalife had established a strong prima facie case, that the balance of convenience lay in its favour and that it was likely to suffer irreparable harm without interim protection. Since the consumer base and trade channels were identical, it held that “there is every likelihood of confusion amongst members of public.”

Further, the Bench observed that the defendants' intention to suggest an association with Herbalife was “further evident” from their copying of the packaging. It found that the rival products were “difficult to distinguish by a person of average intelligence and imperfect recollection”.

Accordingly, the High Court restrained the defendants, until the next hearing, from using “Herbawish”, “Herbawish Nutrition”, the three-leaf device or any deceptively similar mark. The restraint also covers use of the impugned trade dress and the word “Herbawish” as part of their domain name.

It further directed Amazon, Flipkart and IndiaMART to take down the specific infringing listings identified in the order within 36 hours.