Whose Butter Chicken is it? Moti Mahal moves Delhi High Court for cancellation of Daryaganj's trademark

The dispute over the invention of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani took a new turn on Monday with Moti Mahal restaurant filing a plea before the Delhi High Court for cancellation of Daryaganj restaurant chain’s trademark [Rupa Gujral & Ors v Raghav Jaggi]..Justice Anish Dayal heard the matter and issued notice on the applications moved by Moti Mahal.The Court said that Justice Sanjeev Narula will hear the case in July since he is already seized of Moti Mahal’s suit to restrain Daryaganj from claiming that it invented Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani..Moti Mahal or Daryaganj? Delhi High Court to examine which restaurant invented Butter Chicken, Dal Makhani.Moti Mahal has challenged the registration of the trademark “DARYAGANJ: BY THE INVENTORS OF BUTTER CHICKEN & DAL MAKHANI” in favour of Daryaganj restaurantThe same was granted in favour of Daryaganj on March 14, 2018 on a ‘proposed to be used’ basis.It is Moti Mahal’s case that they have been using the tagline “Inventors of Original Dal Makhani, Tandoori Chicken & Butter Chicken” since the year 2005 and Daryaganj’s trademark is a false claim.“The Mark is virtually identical the petitioners’ earlier, well-known tagline with just the addition of the word ‘DARYAGANJ’ above, which is in no way distinctive and does not extinguish itself from the petitioners’ earlier, well-known tagline, which has been coined and used exclusively by the petitioners since 2005 and the petitioners continue to use the even as on date,” the suit argued.In April 2023, Moti Mahal applied for registration of device mark in which it claimed to be original inventors of Dal Makhani, Butter Chicken and Tandoori Chicken. The application is pending before the trademark registry..The suit has been filed through advocates Shreya Sethi and Anirudh Bhatia. Senior Advocate Chander M Lall argued the case on behalf of Moti Mahal.Advocate Pravin Anand represented Daryaganj. .Moti Mahal has also separately filed a civil suit against Daryaganj over the use of the tagline “Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani”.In that suit filed in January 2024, Moti Mahal has claimed that Daryaganj restaurant is “misleading people into believing” that there is a relation between Daryaganj restaurants and Moti Mahal whose first branch was opened in Daryaganj neighbourhood of Delhi.Daryaganj has opposed the plea and argued that they have not engaged in any false representation and the allegations made in the suit are far from truth.They said that the first Moti Mahal restaurant was jointly established by predecessors of both parties (Gujral of Moti Mahal and Jaggi of Daryaganj restaurants) in Peshawar.This case is listed for hearing before Justice Narula on May 29.