NEW DELHI: The Delhi HC has issued an interim injunction restraining fifteen entities from using trade names that closely resemble the trademark of popular pizza chain Domino’s or its earlier brand name, Dominick’s Pizza. Justice Saurabh Banerjee, while passing the order, emphasised that in cases involving food products, the standard for proving deceptive similarity must be more stringent due to the direct impact on public health.
“In essence, any confusion between such products, if allowed to continue, can lead to disastrous consequences on human health. Therefore, this Court has to adopt a more cautious and stringent approach for judging the likelihood of confusion and to exercise greater care,” the Court observed.
The bench also directed food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato to delist or suspend the respondent entities from their services. The case was initiated by Jubilant FoodWorks Limited, which operates Domino’s franchises in India, and by Domino’s LLC, originally founded in the United States in 1960. The plaintiffs also asserted rights over the mark “Dominick”, which they had previously adopted.
The companies approached the Court to stop the use of trade names such as “Domnic’s”, “Dominic”, “Dominic’s”, “Domnik”, “Daminic”, and “Daminic’s”—names that, according to them, were deceptively similar or phonetically identical to their own brand. After reviewing the details, the High Court agreed that, at first glance, the defendants’ marks were deceptively similar to the plaintiffs’ erstwhile trade name “Dominick’s Pizza”.
“The defendants have either wholly copied the plaintiffs’ mark or have just removed the letter ‘K’ from the plaintiffs’ mark ‘Dominick’, and have minor alterations such as addition or subtraction of the letter ‘i’, or ‘s’, or replacement of the letter ‘o’ with ‘a’, so as to come close to plaintiffs’ trademarks and ride on their goodwill,” the Court noted. Summons have now been issued in the main suit, and the matter will proceed accordingly.