Delhi High Court restrains Jamshedpur restaurant from using 'SOCIAL' trademark

The Delhi High Court recently granted an interim injunction in favour of co-working cafe chain Social, restraining a Jamshedpur restaurant by the name of 'Social 75' from using its registered trademark. (Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality v. Social 75 Through Its Proprietor).Justice Jyoti Singh ruled that the offending trademark was deceptively similar to that of Social and observed,"Plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for grant of ex parte ad-interim injunction, as the impugned trademark is deceptively similar to the registered trademark of the plaintiff. Balance of convenience lies in favour of the Plaintiff and it is likely to suffer irreparable harm in case the injunction, as prayed for, is not granted.".The plaintiff Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality, the owner of Social, approached the High Court after finding that the defendant had filed a trademark application for the offending trademark ‘SOCIAL 75’.It was submitted that the defendant had intentionally used the number ‘75’ as a suffix to the trademark ‘SOCIAL’, and that it was plausible to conclude that the intent was to indicate to the public that the plaintiff has opened its 75th ‘SOCIAL’ in the city of Jamshedpur. Further, it was argued that adoption of a deceptively similar trademark by the defendant was aimed at misrepresenting to the general public that the plaintiff was the source of these goods..The Court reasoned that the plaintiff's chain of restaurants and cafes could face irreparable harm if the injunction was not granted and accordingly restrained the proprietors of the Jamshedpur outlet from using the 'Social' trademark till the next date of hearing.Further, the Court directed the proprietors of 'Social 75' and all associated with it to remove all references of the 'Social' trademark from third party websites, where its goods or services were being sold, promoted and advertised."Plaintiff shall comply with the provisions of Order 39 Rule 3 CPC within a period of ten days from today," the Court added.The Court also issued notice and summons to the defendants and directed them to file an affidavit of admission or denial of the documents filed by the plaintiff. The matter will be heard next on November 31..Advocates Shikha Sachdeva, Mugdha Palsula and Shreya Das represented Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality. None appeared for the defendant..Read order: