Nandhini Deluxe (The Plaintiff) is a registered partnership concern carrying on a well-established business, indulging in restaurants specializing in South Indian delicacies specifically Andhra Style vegetarian and Non- Vegetarian dishes. The artistic work, design and look with regards to the trademark NANDHINI in respect of their business has been in use since 1989 and the same exclusively belongs to the plaintiff. They have ever since maintained a popular demand in over 12 branches across Bangalore owing to their quality and standards having attracted significant recognition and demand. NANDHINI is also the registered proprietor of the marks “NANDHINI” in class 42 and also holds a copyright registration.
The Defendant in this case commenced their line of the restaurant by the name of “NANDHINI MUSHROOM FAMILY RESTAURANT” by using the Plaintiff’s trademark and copyright which the Plaintiff was using since 1989.
This led to a dispute arising between Nandhini Deluxe and Nandhini Mushroom Family Restaurant wherein the Plaintiff approached[1] the Bengaluru District Court seeking relief of injunction against the Defendants newly opened a family restaurant for using the mark “Nandhini” in their name which was highly likely to deceive the public and could consequently tarnish the plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation.
Nandhini Deluxe contented that the defendants’ act of appropriating the Plaintiff’s mark along with the correlated trading style amounted to infringement and passing off under Trade Marks Act, 1999. The Plaintiff also claimed that such an act of the Defendants was indulged in order to expropriate upon the goodwill and reputation that Nandhini Deluxe had built and maintained over 3 decades and that the Defendant had no right or authority to illegally use such a deceptively similar mark and trading style for their restaurant services.
The Defendant, Nandhini Mushroom was present at the hearing however failed to file a written statement in return to the Plaintiff’s allegations. The Court observed that Nandhini Deluxe has been the rightful registered proprietor of the mark in dispute having proved prior continuous use with the assistance of supporting legally verified documents. The Court also noted the long use of the mark by the Plaintiff Nandhini Deluxe which indulged in the business since 1989 and owing to the continuous use has acquired them with a long-standing reputation and goodwill. Further, the Court also discovered that Nandhini Mushroom’s usage of the word NANDHINI could lead to confusion among the members of the general public as well as could deceive the public to associate the newly opened restaurant to be related with Nandhini Deluxe.
The holding did not come as a surprise wherein the Court ordered in favor of Nandhini Deluxe and granted a permanent injunction against the Defendant, prohibiting them from using the Plaintiff’s well-established registered trademark in their name. As a consequence, Nandhini Mushroom was also directed to surrender their total stock of unused offending bills, stationaries, blocks amongst others to Nandhini Deluxe to be destructed. Further, the court also slammed costs on the Defendant but since Nandhini Deluxe were unable to prove the illegal profits derived from the Defendant’s fraudulent activities, neither could they submit sales record to establish an interlink with losses suffered, the Court did not award damages as was asserted by Nandhini Deluxe. This was just another battle between two proprietors, one fraudulently passing off their services to be that of the another’s. The Court recognized and took into consideration factors such as prior use, registration of the trademark as well as the safety of the general public in mind while delivering their decision and thereby restricted the Defendant from misappropriating profits and tarnishing the goodwill and reputation of the Plaintiff.
[1] M/S. Nandhini Deluxe vs M/S. Nandhini Mushroom O.S.No.5778/2017 (31 August 2020)
