Supreme Court allows Pune eatery to use 'Burger King' brand name

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed a Pune-based eatery to use the name 'Burger King' until the Bombay High Court decides the matter.

 

“The impugned order (of the Bombay High Court) shall remain stayed. However, the Bombay High Court can continue to hear the appeal," Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma said.

 

The Bombay High Court had earlier overturned a Pune court’s decision, which had dismissed a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the US-based fast-food chain Burger King Corporation against the local restaurant operating under the same name.

 

The dispute began when Burger King Corporation entered the Indian market in 2014, while the Pune-based eatery had been operating under the 'Burger King' name since 2008. The multinational chain argued that the local restaurant’s use of the name was detrimental to its brand reputation and sought a permanent injunction to prevent it from using the name.

 

 

In July 2024, a Pune court ruled in favour of the local eatery, stating that it had been in operation since the early 1990s, whereas Burger King Corporation registered its trademark in India only in 2006. Declaring the Pune restaurant a 'prior and honest user' of the name, the court dismissed the US chain's claims.

 

Challenging this order, the US chain moved the Bombay High Court, stating that it had registered the trademark in India in 1979 but had not started operations until 2014.

 

On the other hand, the Pune eatery argued that it had been using the name since 1992, before the US chain’s entry into the Indian market. It also accused the US chain of ‘squatting’ on the trademark, pointing out that Burger King in the US had initially applied for registration only in relation to paper products, and not restaurant services.