The American fast food chain Burger King has lost a 13-year legal battle against an Indian restaurant of the same name.
An Indian court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Burger King Corporation alleging trademark infringement by Burger King in the city of Pune in the western state of Maharashtra, on the grounds that the restaurant had been in operation since 1992, years before the multinational corporation began operations in the country.
The Burger King Corporation was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King and renamed Burger King in 1959. The company entered the Indian market in November 2014, opening its first outlet in the capital Delhi and arriving in Pune the following year.
The company said it sent a cease-and-desist letter in 2009 after it discovered that Anahita Irani and Shapoor Irani, a Parsi couple from Pune, were using the Burger King name for their restaurant.
The Iranians responded that the company could not rely on any common law rights because there were no Burger King restaurants in India at the time.
Burger King Corporation filed a lawsuit in 2011, claiming that the Pune restaurant’s name infringed its trademark rights and also sought damages.
The Iranians argued that they had been using the name since 1992, more than a decade before the American chain arrived in India. Their logos were different, and that prevented anyone from confusing the Pune restaurant with the global chain.
“Defendants use a crown between the words Burger King to represent the word Burger King, while Plaintiffs apparently never used it. So as far as an optical illusion goes, there is none,” they claimed.
However, as the case dragged on, the Iranians changed the name of their restaurant to Burger.
They also filed a counter-suit against the fast-food giant, demanding 2 million rupees (£18,377) in damages on the grounds that the lawsuit had damaged their business. The claim was dismissed by the court as they had not provided “any evidence of the actual damage caused”.
As for Burger King Corporation’s suit, the court said the company had “failed miserably” to prove trademark infringement and was therefore not entitled to damages and the Pune restaurant was free to use the name.
“In the absence of any substantial evidence, I conclude that the plaintiff is not entitled to damages, accounting and discharge of an injunction,” said District Judge Sunil Vedpathak, who heard the case.
