The 13-year-long legal battle between US multinational Burger King and its eponymous restaurant in Pune, Maharashtra, has come to an end after a district judge dismissed the company’s trademark infringement claim.

In his ruling on August 16, Pune District Judge Sunil Vedpathak found that the US burger chain had failed to prove that the local restaurant had infringed its trademark rights, as the city-based Burger King restaurant had existed long before the US fast-food chain started operating in India.

Burger King Corporation sued the Pune-based restaurant in 2011, seeking an injunction to prevent trademark infringement and passing off the mark as its own, as well as damages.

The lawsuit was dismissed by the court. “Defendants have been using the trade name for their restaurant since about 1992. Plaintiff’s pleadings make no mention at all of the fact that Defendants’ use of the Burger King trademark caused customers to be confused with their restaurant,” it states.

The owners of the Burger King restaurant in Pune, Anahita and Shapoor Irani, were sued and also demanded damages of Rs 20 lakh.

Regarding the US fast-food chain’s demand for a permanent injunction, the court said that Burger King Corporation started offering restaurant services in India under its Burger King brand only in 2014, while the city-based restaurant company has been using the ‘Burger King’ brand for its restaurant services since 1991-92.

The court said Burger King Corporation failed miserably to prove that the restaurant here infringed its Burger King trademark while it was operating the Pune restaurant. “Since there was absolutely no evidence of infringement of the US fast food chain’s trademark and actual loss suffered by it, the company was not entitled to damages. In the absence of any substantial evidence, I therefore conclude that the plaintiff is not entitled to damages, account and vacancy of injunction,” the order said.

The US fast food chain’s first Indian BURGER KING restaurant opened in New Delhi on November 9, 2014, the court said. The first BURGER KING franchise restaurant in Asia opened in 1982 and there are currently more than 1,200 such restaurants in Asia, the lawsuit said. It added that the company has been using the “Burger King” brand since 1954 and it is known worldwide.

The company claimed that the high quality of products and services provided by its fast food outlets has helped BURGER KING gain a fantastic reputation and goodwill and therefore, any merchant adopting or using an identical mark or a deceptively similar mark would be acting dishonestly and maliciously and as a result of the Pune restaurant’s unlawful actions, which are irreversible and unquantifiable, the company would suffer significant loss, damage and harm to its goodwill, business and reputation.

The Iranians objected to the lawsuit, claiming it was fraudulent and aimed at deterring legitimate users and businesses from doing business with them. They claimed there was no similarity between the US fast-food chain’s trademark and the name of their own store. The Iranians also claimed they had received threatening and abusive phone calls since the lawsuit was filed.

They demanded compensation of Rs 20 lakh from the US company for the mental distress and suffering they had endured. However, the court also denied them any financial compensation, pointing out that no other evidence was presented to substantiate their allegations apart from oral statements.

(with PTI inputs)