BHC grants interim relief to Burger King in trademark suit filed by it
Business: The Bombay High Court has put an interim stay till further hearing on a trial court order in Pune allowing a Pune-based restaurant to use the name ‘Burger King’. A bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and RS Patil was hearing a petition filed by US giant Burger King against the use of its trademark name by the Pune-based restaurant. The bench observed that the use of the name was barred till the trial court pronounced its verdict in favour of the Pune-based restaurant and kept it upheld till September 6, the next date of hearing. Burger King, one of the world’s second largest fast food hamburger companies, started using the trademark since 1954 and its first franchise restaurant was opened in Asia in 1982 and currently has more than 1,200 such restaurants in Asia. The company’s first restaurant opened in New Delhi on November 9, 2014. A few more outlets were opened after that, including the one in Pune in April 2015.
The issue in this case dates back to 2008, when the US firm had issued a warning to protect its prior statutory rights after it noticed that a Pune-based food outlet, owned by Anahita and Shapoor Irani, had applied for the trademark “Burger King”. In 2009, the US company wrote to the owners of the eatery located in Camp and Koregaon Park. However, they opposed the denial of legal rights of the US company and insisted on using the Burger King trademark for their restaurants and said that the US company’s restaurants do not have a presence in India and hence it cannot claim any common legal right. The US giant claimed that it has a very good image in the market and adoption or use of the same mark or a deceptively similar mark by any trader would be dishonest, malicious and therefore against the law. According to the company, “the likely loss, damage and harm to its goodwill, business and reputation due to the unlawful acts of the Iranians cannot be quantified and cannot be compensated.” The Iranians on the other hand said that there is no similarity in the use of the trademark of the American giant company and the name of their shop Burger King. There is no similarity in the design used for the use of the name Burger King, especially with regard to the use of colour and they used a crown between the words Burger King.
The Iranians had submitted that
they have been running one of their shops since 1989 and using the name Burger King since 1992. The wife and husband said that they were not even aware of the existence of the American giant. Later in 2011, the US based company dragged the Iranians to the Pune court where the trial was conducted by presenting witnesses to support the case. The Iranians alleged that the Burger King trademark was registered in 1979 for paper and paper products and recently in May 2000 for sandwiches, burgers etc. Therefore, the categories in which the goods are registered are different. They also alleged mental harassment and sought compensation of Rs 20 lakh. The trial judge, in an order passed on August 16, rejected the US giant’s arguments and said that the Pune-based eatery ‘Burger King’ was operating even before the American burger joint opened shop in India and the latter failed to prove that the local food outlet had infringed its trademark.
