Introduction to the case[1]
The case revolves around the trademark infringement of one of the famous and leading chain of chai cafes in India. The plaintiff has brought this lawsuit in an effort to seek permanent injunction against the defendant for infringing upon the registered trademark of the plaintiff. The final orders were rendered by Justice Prathiba M. Singh on October 11, 2022 in the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi.
Plaintiff:
The plaintiff had been using the trademark ‘Chaayos’ since the year 2007 and registered the same as the trademark in the year 2012. The country’s largest chai cafe, ‘Chaayos’ has more than 200 outlets and serves chai in more than 12,000 different ways that can be customised. Also in places where the physical stores are not present, the chai services are made available to its customers through ecommerce medium such as its own website www.chaayos.com and e- market places like Swiggy, Zomato and so on.
Defendant:
The Defendant – MTRM Global Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in the year 2017 and the registered office is based out of Ghaziabad. The defendant also opted for a similar trademark like that of plaintiff, ‘Chaiops’, in the year 2020 for selling tea products. The defendant also operates through 37 outlets.
Mediation Failed:
On considering the plea for interim injunction, when the suit was first listed, the Court was of the opinion that an amicable resolution ought to be explored between the parties considering that the plaintiff has 200 outlets and the defendant had already opened 37 outlets. Since the dispute was over the word mark and not logo, the parties explored various other options for the word mark that could be opted by the defendant. However, the mediation proceedings failed.
Consented Settlement:
On 10th October, 2022 defendant finally agreed to change the mark to “ChaiApps” which was also acceptable to the plaintiff. Ld. Counsels for the parties were requested to finalise the consented settlement terms and place the same before Court. There is some disagreement regarding how soon the Defendant should receive notice of the word mark modification. The court was of the opinion that some reasonable time can be granted to the defendant to give effect to the changeover. In respect of online marketplace and websites the change has to be immediate and for physical changes the time suggested by the court was by 1st April, 2023. Both plaintiff and defendant consented to this opinion of the court.
On the basis of the same as discussed and the submissions made, the following consent terms were recorded as a full and final settlement of all the disputes that have arisen between the parties in the present suit.
The Defendant acknowledges that it will stop using the mark “CHAIOPS” as of April 1, 2023. However, going forward, in the event that any such material comes to the Plaintiff’s attention, the Plaintiff agrees to immediately inform the Defendant of it, at which point the Defendant is required to take down any relevant boards or signage and destroy any relevant goods or materials—whether they are found online or off—not later than one week after receiving the notice, failing which the Defendant shall be subject to damages of Rs. 50,000 for each day that the default continues.
The Parties agree that the settlement terms provided herein are final and binding on both parties. In view of the amicable resolution of disputes, full court fee is directed to be refunded to the Plaintiff in terms of the judgment of the ld. Division Bench of this Court in Nutan Batra v. M/s. Buniyaad Associates, 2018 (255) DLT 696, through counsel.
[1] SUNSHINE TEAHOUSE PVT. LTD. v. MTRM GLOBAL PVT. LTD. ,CS (COMM) 617/2022 & I.A. 14369/2022
DUCTUS EDGE 