Trademark suit: HC temporarily restrains Pune eatery from using the name “Burger King”

MUMBAI: In an interim relief to US giant Burger King in a trademark infringement suit, the Bombay high court (HC) on Monday restrained a Pune-based eatery from using the brand name till September 6.
The company moved the high court last week, challenging an order passed by a Pune court dismissing its suit alleging trademark infringement against the namesake eatery.
The Pune-based food joint has been owned by a couple since 1989. It serves burgers and other food items which are popular among patrons in the city. The joint has been using the brand name since 1992.
The US-based food chain was started as a single restaurant by James McLamore and David Edgerton, in 1954, and now operates a worldwide chain of 13,000 fast food restaurants across 100 countries. The chain registered its trademark in India around April 1979; however, it opened a shop in Pune around April 2015.
A bench presided over by justice A S Chandurkar and justice Rajesh Patil, which heard the appeal for the first time was told by advocate Hiren Kamod, who represented the US-based food chain, that since the judgement challenged in the appeal was passed, ad-interim relief granted to it by the Pune court in 2012 had ceased to be operational.
Advocate Abhijeet Sarwate, appearing for the owners of the Pune-based food joint, said that the food joint used the mark “Burger King” after the judgement. However, Hiren Kamod told the court that the food joint only started using the mark after papers of the appeal were served on them. The high court then granted protection to the US-based food chain against the use of the mark by the Pune-based joint.
The court will now hear the matter on September 6.A team of lawyers appearing on behalf of Burger King USA also included, Avesh Kayser, Raunak Kamath, and Alhan Kayser.