The interim order was delivered on Thursday by a civil judge Hemant Deshpande who heard a notice of motion in a suit filed by Godfrey Philips Limited which alleged that ITC, the rival company, was using muscle-power to disturb its promotional campaign.

The court also restrained the defendents from inducing the wholesale cigarette dealers to commit breach of their contractual obligations with the plaintiffs. After hearing the parties considerably at length, the judge felt that the plaintiffs had made out a prima facie case about their grievance and hence ruled that balance of convenience was in their favour.

The plaintiffs alleged that ITC and other defendents had launched a concerted compaign to disturb the launch of their new product Four Square Gold in the 70 mm-74 mm segment.

The plaintiffs further alleged that some unidentified persons at the behest of the defendents were either pulling down their promotional material from the shops or paying more consideration than the plaintiffs to the shopowners for the space used for diplaying the campaign posters.

The defendents strongly denied having disturbed the promotional campaign of the plaintiffs and urged that the same tactics had been employed by godfrey philips to disturb or interrupt the display of their products. The plaintiff urged that it was amongst the premier cigarette manufacturing companies in the country having a turnover of over Rs. 1,000 crore.

The court was told that the plaintiff manufactured a variety of brands in five segments classified on the basis of length of the cigarette stick - micro plain (below 60 mm), plain (non-filter -- between 60 an 69 mm), regular filter (not exceeding 70 mm), mini kings filter (70 mm-74mm) and kings filter (75 mm to 85 mm).

The plaintiff said earlier they sold their products in four of the five segments. The only segment which had been left out was the minikings filter which was the most popular among the smokers. The average monthly sales in this segment in mumbai alone was Rs. 8.32 crore (52 million cigarettes).

ITC, hitherto, enjoyed complete monopoly in this segment through its brand Wills Navy Cut. In all the segments combined the defendents controlled over 65 per cent of all India market and was in a dominant position with a turnover of over Rs. 5,000 crore, the plaintiff submitted.

The judge observed that the plaintiff had prima facie made out a case for their grievance because they had lodged three police complaints against the defendents. The latter, on the other hand, could not prima facie show that the plaintiff had indulged in unlawful activities.

The court opined that both the companies had lodged a poster war against each other and it was difficult to accept which acted first because in some cases posters of plaintiff were on top of defendant's material and in other cases it was vice-versa.