Aarohi Dhumale
On August 26th, the Bombay High Court gave temporary relief to American fast food chain Burger King by issuing a temporary ban on the Pune eatery from using the name ‘Burger King’.
Pune District Court dismissed the American chain’s trademark infringement suit against the Pune eatery on July 16th. The chain appealed to Bombay High Court seeking an interim injunction against the Pune eatery. The appeal was heard by a Division Bench comprising Justice A.S. Chandurkar and Justice Rajesh Patil.
The Pune eatery started using the name ‘Burger King’ around 1991-92. The American chain entered the Indian market in 2014. However, the trademark lawsuit was initiated by them in 2011.
The American chain, represented by Advocate Hiren Kamod, argued that the Pune Court’s ruling is incorrect, as the chain has over 400 outlets in India, with six of them being in Pune. The company has considerable goodwill in the market and any usage of identical or deceptively similar trademarks by any trader would be dishonest, malafide, and contrary to law. The Pune eatery’s owners, represented by Advocate Abhijit Sarwate, argued that the trademark was different as there was a crown present in their name and the colour combination was also different. The couple said that they weren’t aware of the American chain’s existence when they started their eatery way back in 1992. The ‘Burger King’ trademark was registered for paper and paper products in 1979 and registered in May 2000 for sandwiches, burgers etc. Classes in which the goods are registered are different.
The Bombay High Court observed that an injunction had been placed on using the name until the trial court made a decision in favour of the Pune eatery. Therefore, it suspended the order until the next hearing on September 6.
Case Name: Burger King Corporation vs. Anahita Irani and Another
Case Number: REG. CIVIL SUIT NO.-02/2011 CNR NO. MHPU010018472011 EXH NO.-321.
Bench: Justice A.S. Chandurkar and Justice Rajesh Patil