Delhi High Court: A suit was filed by Mannat Group of Hotels (plaintiff) seeking ad interim injunction against eating joints at Murthal in Delhi-Chandigarh Highway wherein the notice has been issued and Local Commissioner appointed. Anish Dayal, J., restrained defendants from using any mark or branding inter alia MANNAT, MANAT DHABA, , MANNATT DHABA, Shri MANNATT DHABA, New MANNATT DHABA, Apna MANNAT DHABA et al., and/or any other mark or trade indicia which is identical to or deceptively similar to the Plaintiffs’ well-known and registered trademarks, MANNAT, MANNAT DHABA, MANNAT GROUP, MANNAT RESORTS, et al., which use by the Defendants amounts to infringement of the Plaintiff’s exclusive and proprietary rights in their registered marks.
The plaintiff claimed that the various Trademarks including “MANNAT DHABA” and “MANNAT” and the logo have been registered under various classes including 29, 32, 33, 35, 43, 45 and are being used since 2008 for their Dhabas and eateries, located at Murthal on the Delhi-Chandigarh Highway, and had accordingly attained repute in the said marks which are undoubtedly associated with the plaintiffs
The Local Commissioner so appointed placed on record his report observing that the Mannat Dhaba (Defendant 1) refused to cooperate and despite many attempts, the owner was persistent that MANAT is not similar to MANNAT. New MANNAT DHABA (defendant 2) informed that the dhaba started around September 2022 and is in the process of rebranding the Dhaba as “MAHADEV DHABA”. Thus, counsel for plaintiff stated that no relief shall be pressed against defendant 2. SHRI MANNAT DHABA (defendant 3) stated that the Dhaba was originally known as “DELIGHT AMBROSIA” but was rebranded to compete with defendant 2 and other similarly branded highway restaurants which opened in the vicinity. However, counsel for the plaintiff presented a communication showing the rebranding of the said Dhaba to “MANMEET DHABA” by defendant 3.
APNA MANNAT DHABA (defendant 4) cooperated in the execution of the Commission. The owner of defendant 4 stated that he had taken over Dhaba about 2-3 months back and retained the branding of MANNAT since it was popularly used by other Dhabas in the vicinity. He further stated that he was operating restaurants in Dehradun in the brand of “GREASY GRILLZZ” and had also applied for registration of brand “MANNATT”.
The Court noted that the plaintiff was able to make out a prima facie case for grant of an ex parte ad-interim injunction against defendants 1, 3 and 4). Thus, the Court granted ad-interim injunction in favour of the plaintiff against each of the Defendants and their owners, partners, principal officers, employees, staff and all others acting for or on behalf of the Defendants.
[Mannat Group of Hotels Private Limited v. Mannat Dhaba, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 71, decided on 04-01-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Mr. Dushyant K. Mahant, Mr. Subhash Bhutoria and Ms. Aashima Kapoor, Advocate for plaintiff
Ms. Harsh Lata, Adv. for D-2
