Delhi High Court restrains Alpino Health Foods from Disparaging “OATS” in ads following Marico suit

The Delhi High Court has temporarily barred Alpino Health Foods, backed by Shilpa Shetty, from airing advertisements that allegedly disparage oats as a food category. Marico, known for its Saffola oats, filed a lawsuit against Alpin claiming their ad campaign falsely portrays oats as unpalatable. The court will revisit the case on March 19, 2025.

The Delhi High Court in a suit filed by Marico Limited, restrained Alpino Health Foods Private Limited, which is backed by Shilpa Shetty from publishing and circulating its advertisements which are disparaging “OATS”  as a category of goods.

Marico had filed a suit against Alpino alleging generic disparagement by an advertisement campaign being run by Alpino for its ‘Alpino Super Oats’.

As per Marico, the advertisement campaign, which comprises of an audio-visual advertisement and social media posts, was targeting “OATS” as a food category and was deliberately calling them bad, inedible, disgusting and not fit for human consumption.

Therefore, Marico alleged that Alpino’s advertisement campaign was causing generic disparagement of “OATS” as a category of goods, of which their oats under the brand “Saffola” are the market leaders.

The Delhi High Court after noting the submissions made by Marico, restrained Alpino vide an ad-interim injunction order from publishing the advertisements, which are disparaging “OATS” as a category of food.