Delhi HC Grants Permanent Injunction In Favour Of Rishikesh Based Chotiwala Restaurant Over Trademark Infringement, Awards ₹3 Lakh Damages

Chotiwala Food And Hotels Pvt. Ltd. (plaintiff no. 1) was established in 1958 at Rishikesh, Uttarakhand and was previously named Chotiwala Shudh Ghee Bhojanalay and Chotiwala Bhojanalay.

In 1995, the restaurant was renamed as 'Chotiwala' and it obtained various trademark registrations for the Chotiwala mark. The restaurant also created artworks for their restaurant and registered copyright for the same.

Chotiwala stated that it deploys real-life mascots at the restaurant to attract customers and the mascot has become an iconic symbol of the restaurant. It stated that Chotiwala has become distinctive to the restaurant and gained immense goodwill among customers. It stated that an uninterrupted run of the business for more than 65 years, 'Chotiwala' has acquired a secondary meaning. It stated that in FY 2021-2022, the plaintiffs' annual sale was over Rs. 2 crore.

Chotiwala submitted that it started receiving complaints from their customers visiting from New Delhi that they ordered from Chotiwala's Delhi branch but found the food to be substandard. Upon inquiry, they discovered that various restaurants were set using its name. It stated that the defendant restaurants dishonestly incorporated its name to mislead the customers and misappropriate its goodwill.

In its previous order, the Court had proceeded ex parte against the defendant-restaurants and had directed Zomato and Magicpin to take down the listing of defendant restaurants on their platforms.

Justice Amit Bansal noted that the defendant-restaurants did not file any written statements. The Court opined that the suit does not merit a trial and thus invoked Order VIII Rule 10 CPC, which empowers the court to pronounce judgment against a party if no written statement has been filed within the required time.

The Court noted that Chotiwala has been using its trademark and artistic work for more than 65 years and stated that Chotiwala has proved its goodwill and reputation among its customers.

It stated that the restaurant has gained popularity and the word Chotiwala has acquired a secondary meaning.

“The marks and artistic work have been used by the plaintiffs for promotion of their restaurants for more than sixty five (65) years and following the popularity it has acquired a secondary meaning, and the word 'CHOTIWALA' by default (in its ordinary sense), refers to the restaurant of the plaintiffs in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. The plaintiffs have also been able to demonstrate and prove their goodwill and reputation in respect of the same based on the clientele and the sales figures placed by them before this court.”

The Court further stated that the defendant-restaurants used Chotiwala's trade mark and artistic work/copyrights with a clear intent to deceive the public and falsely claim association with the plaintiff. It remarked that the defendants' action of creating delivery pages on the food delivery platform and other social media platforms gave rise to substantial confusion, leading customers to falsely believe that the impugned listings are associated with Chotiwala.

The Court thus restrained the defendant-resultants (defendant nos. 1 to 3) from using Chotiwala's name, marks and artistic work without authorization it.

On the aspect of damages, the Court observed that it has to adopt a stringent approach in awarding damages where the infringement is deliberate and malafide.

Here, it noted that the defendants used Chotiwala's name and marks with mala fide intent. It thus observed that the actions of the defendants necessitated the imposition of damages.

The Court thus directed the defendant nos. 1 to 3 to pay Rs. 1 lakh each to Chotiwala as damages.

It also directed Magicpin (defendant no. 4) to remove all businesses from its platform that use Chotiwala name or any other deceptively similar name in their trade name.

Case title: Chotiwala Food And Hotels Private Limited vs. Chotiwala & Ors.

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 292