The Reckitt Benckiser-owned Dettol soap, which has become a generic name for antiseptic soaps in India, has received a major blow on its positioning.

This follows a Delhi high court order saying that Dettol soap is not an antiseptic soap.

In an order dated April 21, 2003, justice Vikramjit Sen of the Delhi High Court said, "Dettol soap is marketed as a toilet soap under IS:2888-1983 and not as an anti-bacterial toilet soap which falls in the classification IS:11479-1985. The soap Dettol is necessarily a cosmetic as defined in Section 3 (AAA) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Dettol soap is neither labelled nor marketed as an anti-bacterial soap or as an antiseptic soap..."

The order follows a spat between the British-Dutch household products company's local subsidiary, Reckitt Benckiser, and consumer products major Hindustan Lever Ltd over the merits of their respective Dettol and Ayush brands as antiseptic soaps.

Reckitt Benckiser had moved the high court against an HLL advertisement on Ayush, which showed that the Dettol sop was not an antiseptic soap.

Rejecting the appeal to stop Ayush's advertising, the high court said that Reckitt Benckiser's "claim that its soap has been disparaged is entirely indefensible. If a competitor makes the consumer aware of his mistaken impression, the plaintiff (Reckitt) cannot be heard to complain of such action."

An HLL press release said that the Delhi high court has vacated the injunction obtained by Reckitt Benckiser on the advertising of HLL's Ayush soap, which showed that Dettol soap was not an antiseptic soap, while Ayush is an ayurvedic medicinal preparation with antiseptic properties.

Despite repeated attempts, Reckitt Benckiser executives were not available for comment.

The high court added that Ayush's "advertisement brings out to the obvious discomfort of the plaintiff (Reckitt) is that contrary to the belief induced in the public by plaintiff, the Dettol soap is not an antiseptic soap."

The court also said: "Learned counsel of the plaintiff had gone to the extent of submitting that even if Dettol soap was not efficacious for what it is held out to achieve, if the public perceives it to be so, it is not open to any person to remove this mistaken belief. This argument must be unequivocally rejected as devoid of merit."

For Reckitt, Dettol range of products contribute a major chunk to its turnover. Following the huge recall of the Dettol brand, Reckitt began to widen the portfolio of the brand.

HLL has been pushing its Ayush range of ayurvedic personal care products. It is now being sold not just in India but in several other countries.