The District Court in Pune has dismissed the trademark infringement case brought by US food giant Burger King Corporation against the local eatery, Burger King, located in Pune.
In a recent judgment, District Judge Sunil G. Vedpathak noted that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate that the Pune restaurant had infringed on its Burger King trademark.
The US company, which began operating under the ‘Burger King’ name in 1954 and has become the second largest fast-food hamburger chain globally, filed the lawsuit in 2011. The suit sought a permanent injunction against the Pune restaurant’s use of the name “Burger King” and claimed damages of Rs. 20 lakhs.
When Burger King Corporation applied for trademark registration in India in 2009, it found that the Pune restaurant had already been using the name. The defendants, Anahita Irani and Shapoor Irani, argued that their restaurant had been operating under the name since 1992 and that the plaintiff had not used the trademark in India for nearly 30 years.
The court found the suit unmeritorious, noting that the Pune eatery had been using the trademark since 1991-92, while the US company only began providing services under the Burger King name in India in 2014. Furthermore, the plaintiff had not provided evidence of trademark registration in India prior to the defendants’ use. The court also highlighted procedural flaws in the plaintiff’s evidence, including the fact that the affidavit was not filed in accordance with legal requirements and that the deponent had no personal knowledge of the case.
Consequently, the court ruled that the US company had no grounds for seeking an injunction or damages, and the evidence presented was deemed inadequate.
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