JUDGMENT

This Civil Suit has been filed for seeking a relief of recovery of a sum of Rs.1,00,00,000/- (Rupees one Crore only) from the defendant along with interest from the date of plaint till the date of payment, towards the damages and compensation to the plaintiff and also to grant permanent injunction, restraining the defendant and their men and agents from in any manner making, uploading, writing, printing, publishing, broadcasting, distributing or disseminating in print media or electronic media or Internet media or any form whatsoever any defamatory material, statements, continuing in uploading, publishing including the purported/video/audio any material or statement, and to remove/ delete the false and defamatory video /audio in all platforms relating to or arising from relate to the plaintiff's brand which is affecting and damaging the name and reputation of plaintiff's brand in any manner.

2. The plaintiff is a leading market leader in the refined sunflower oil (RSO) and edible oil sector. He has been marking the product with its brand by name ' Gold Winner' over 30 years from 1993. The plaintiff manufactures and packs various edible oils such as sunflower oil, groundnut oil, palm oil, olive oil, blended oil (olive + corn combo) etc., with its well known trade mark namely 'Gold Winner'. The plaintiff has also filed an application for registration of trade mark for other edible oil products. The plaintiff is also in the business of manufacturing, marketing and selling lamp oil, agricultural products, food products, dals, dairy products, cosmetic products etc. The plaintiff has its factories in Palani, Tamil Nadu and in Tumkur, Karnataka from where he manufactures and markets these products. The plaintiff's Vengaivasal factory has also been certified as ISO 9001:2008, HACCP and ISO 2200:2005. The plaintiff's product is of high standard quality and earns good Will and reputation among the customers. As on today, the plaintiff is one of the premier in Edible Oil sector. The plaintiff was finding it hard against the unfair trade practice adopted by his competitors who attempted to sell their products through dubious manner by imitating their product as 'Good Winner'. 2.1. The defendant is a self-proclaimed social media influencer and he has accounts on several social media platforms including YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. He has approximately 3,35,000 subscribers for his YoutTube account. The defendant posts various videos by criticising certain top brands by giving review about quality of the products and bringing negative attention on popular brands.

2.2. On 19.02.2023 the defendant had posted a video by comparing the plaintiff's product 'Gold Winner'. He had posted a video where he compared two different quantity range of 'Gold Winner' and alleged that one litre pocket of oil consists of only 7 pockets of 100 ml and claimed that one litre 'Gold Winner' oil is selling 300 ml less and the consumers got only 700 ml of oil, despite they paid the price for 1 litre oil. The defendant has made a conscious attempt to defame the product and he misled his viewers and the videos were posted just to bring down the hard earned reputation of the plaintiff's brand 'Gold Winner'. The video has been shared in all platforms including, but not limited to twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The videos are perceived to be defamatory. The action of the defendant has tarnished the image of the plaintiff's market more importantly among the general public. The defendant's action and misrepresentation was purposely done to gain attention. It was intended just to bring down the hard earned reputation of the plaintiff's brand. Due to the above action of the defendant, the plaintiff is constrained to initiate legal proceedings against the defendant for defamation. And thus the plaintiff has field this suit for recovery of damages of Rs.1 Crore from the defendant along with permanent injunction for restraining the defendant and their men and agents