Delhi High Court: In a suit filed by Sunshine Tea House Pvt Ltd. (‘plaintiff’) for its brand CHAAYOS was seeking permanent injunction restraining infringement of trademark and unauthorized use of trade name etc. relating to the phonetic and ocular similarity between trademarks ‘CHAAYOS’ and ‘CHAIOPS’, Prathiba M Singh J. appointed Mr. Sidharth Chopra (Counsel present in Court) as the Mediator to attempt amicable resolution of disputes between the parties, on finding that there is a possibility of amicable resolution.
The Plaintiff’s brand ‘CHAAYOS’ was established and started operations in the year 2012 and it claims to be the leading chain of Chai Cafes in India operating in various States across the country offering customized Chai in several variants having 200 outlets across the country.
The Defendant adopted the mark ‘CHAIOPS’ for selling tea products through a cafe under the name and style of ‘CHAIOPS’. The case of the Plaintiff is that the Defendant adopted the mark ‘CHAIOPS’ for products and services identical to the Plaintiff’s services and products which is a violation of the Plaintiff’s registered trademark ‘CHAAYOS’.
The parties admitted before the Court that there is no similarity in the device and logo of the parties. The only issue between the parties is regarding the phonetic/ ocular similarity of ‘CHAAYOS’ & ‘CHAIOPS’ marks.
Thus, the Court, realizing a scope of amicable resolution of disputes appointed Counsel Mr. Sidharth Chopra as the mediator. The Court directed the parties to appear before the mediator either virtually or physically.
[Sunshine Teahouse Pvt Ltd. v. MTRM Global Pvt Ltd., 2022 SCC OnLine Del 2831, decided on 06-09-2022]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. Jayant Mehta, Mr. Ankit Miglani, Ms. Jyoti Nambiar and Ms. Kaveri Rawal, Advocates, for the Plaintiff;
Ms. Swathi Sukumar, Mr. Abhishek Jain, Ms. Sutapa Jana, Ms. Anjali Bisht, Ms. Himangi Kapoor and Mr. Ritik Raguwanshi, Advocates, for the Defendant.
*Arunima Bose, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.