Defamatory videos: HC orders in favour of Amul, Sodhi says historic

In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court directed Google, Facebook, and Twitter to remove the defamatory videos against the Gujarat Milk Marketing Cooperative Federation (GCMMF) which sells its product under the brand name Amul.

The judgment of the court came on Friday last week. In euphoria, Managing Director R S Sodhi lost no time in sharing the good news with his followers on Twitter and wrote, “Very Historic Judgement @Amul_coop”.

According to Bar and Bench.com Amul’s advocate Abhishek Singh submitted that the defendants had initiated a malicious, slanderous campaign against the dairy brand that was defamatory and launched with the sole intention of creating bias, fear, and psychosis in the minds of the public to give up Amul dairy products and instead shift to plant-based products like almond milk, soy milk, tofu, etc.

Singh said that various well-known advertisements and jingles of the brand were taken and edited with clippings of dairy animals being brutally tortured, with the ulterior motive of causing serious harm and injury to the highly reputed brand, Amul, and its well-known brand name and trademark.

Meanwhile, social media users also reacted to this development. “No one can defame the best brand of India. The Taste of India”, wrote one of the users on Twitter.

The high brand value of Amul also makes it vulnerable to copying. Earlier it fought cases against the manufacturers of underwear, tractors and other products to use the name’ Amul.

But Amul led by from the front by its MD RS Sodhi had fought a heroic fight against PETA’s advocacy of Vegan Milk. “Will they give livelihood to 100 million dairy farmers (70% landless), who will pay for children school fee .. how many can afford expensive lab manufactured factory foods made out of chemicals … And synthetic vitamins.”, Sodhi’s words were lapped up by social media enthusiasts.

PETA doesn’t even spend a dime from its over USD 40 million funds on saving animals. It’s more focused on creating a way to tech-based food biz & close the traditional food biz, as that will help them control the food chain more effectively, since lab production is controllable.

The ‘Amul’ brand is trademarked by the Kaira District Co-Operative Milk Producers Union Ltd (KDCMPU), also known as the Amul dairy, since 1955. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) uses the name to promote and market its products.

GCMMF is an umbrella body under which 18 milk cooperatives, including KDCMPU, function. The case had been filed by both GCMMF and Amul Dairy.