Court dismisses Nestle's lawsuit against Andec
Court dismisses Nestle's lawsuit against Andec
JAKARTA (JP): The North Jakarta District Court dismissed on
Thursday the lawsuit filed by Swiss-based food products producer
PT Nestle Indonesia against New Zealand-based milk producer PT
New Zealand Milk Indonesia Andec over an advertising flap.
Presiding judge M. Hatta Ali said the panel of judges
dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that it was incomplete,
failing to name as defendants all the parties involved in
producing and publishing the advertisement.
In its lawsuit, Nestle only named Andec and advertising agency
PT Poliyama, which produced the advertisement for Andec, as
defendants.
Hatta said Nestle should also have named as defendants the
media which published the advertisement.
"As far as an advertisement is concerned, it always involves
three parties: the company which is advertising its product, the
advertising company which makes the advertisement and the mass
media which publishes the advertisement," Hatta said.
The dispute centers around an advertisement placed by Andec in
eleven local magazines and tabloids with national circulations in
November and December last year to promote its milk product,
Andec Full Cream.
Nestle accused Andec of violating the advertising industry's
code of ethics by attacking Nestle's Dancow milk in the
advertisement.
Nestle said Andec, through its advertisement, was seeking to
convince the public its product was better than Dancow by
comparing the two's nutrient contents.
Andec did not explicitly mention Dancow in its advertisement,
but the company used a symbol associated with Dancow, Nestle
claimed.
A lawyer from Nestle sent letters to Andec and Poliyama
accusing them of breaching advertising standards and violating
the principle of fair competition. The letter demanded the two
companies publicly apologize to Nestle or face a lawsuit.
Andec and Poliyama went to the Indonesian Association of
Advertising Agencies for help in settling the matter.
The association's Indonesian Advertising Committee (KPI),
which handles disputes in the industry, ruled that Andec was at
fault in the matter and ordered the company to withdraw the
advertisement. But in its ruling, the committee failed to address
Nestle's demand for a public apology from Andec and Poliyama.
Nestle then filed a lawsuit against the two companies with the
North Jakarta District Court.
After the court delivered its decision, Nestle lawyer Dini C.
Tobing-Panggabean of Lubis, Santosa & Maulana Law Office said she
would file an appeal.
She dismissed the judge's reason for rejecting Nestle's
lawsuit as baseless, saying the mass media which published
Andec's advertisement had nothing to do with the dispute. "I
think the mass media has it own rules in deciding whether to
publish advertisement."
Andec lawyer Hafzan Taher appeared pleased with the decision.
"Actually, the dispute between Nestle and my client was settled
by KPI. There was no need to take the case to court." (02)