Delhi High Court Prohibits Sellers from Selling Pakistani-owned Roof Afza on Amazon 

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has ‘permanently restrained’ various retailers on e-commerce platform Amazon from selling sherbets made in Pakistan under the India’s Hamdard-owned ‘Rooh Afza’ trademark. On September 5, the court ordered Amazon to remove the listings of Pakistan-made sherbets labelled as Rooh Afza from its platform in India. 

Hamdard National Foundation (India) filed a suit in the court alleging that sherbets made by Pakistan’s Hamdard are being sold in India by Amazon. The high court ruled in favour of Hamdard India which had adopted the trademark ‘Rooh Afza’ in 1907. 

The plaintiffs approached the court claiming a company named Golden Leaf was selling sherbets labelled as ‘Roof Afza’ on Amazon India which were manufactured in Pakistan.

The court has directed the e-commerce platform Amazon that in case any other products infringing Hamdard’s ‘Roof Afza’ brand are found, it shall be brought to the notice of Amazon India and the same shall be taken down in accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules.

Roof Afza which is part of iftar spread during the month of holy Ramadan was introduced by a renowned Unani practitioner Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Delhi over a century ago. The household name Rooh Afza became a victim of India-Pakistan partition when Majeed’s younger son migrated to Pakistan while his elder son stayed back in India. Both brothers started separate Hamdard companies – Hamdard National Foundation owns branding rights over the drink in India, Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) manufactures it in Pakistan.

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