Geetham used a trade identity deceptively similar to Sangeetha’s between June 2022 and Nov. 2023: Madras HC

Madras HC orders Geetham to pay Sangeetha profits for deceptive trade identity used between June 2022 and November 2023.

The Madras High Court has held that the Geetham chain of restaurants in Chennai had adopted a trade identity deceptively similar to that of the popular Sangeetha chain of restaurants between June 1, 2022, and November 2, 2023, with a view to convince consumers that Sangeetha had metamorphosed into Geetham.

Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy concurred with senior counsel A.K. Sriram that Sangeetha Caterers and Consultants LLP had established the charge of passing off and is, therefore, entitled to the entire profits earned by the owners of the Geetham chain of restaurants between June 1, 2002, and November 2, 2023.

The judge directed Rasnam Foods, RSM Foods, Prasanam Foods, and GVR Foods Private Limited to provide a true and proper statement of account of revenue earned by operating restaurants under the trade name Geetham between 2022 and 2023 and pay the profits earned during that period to the owners of Sangeetha.

Partly decreeing a civil suit filed by Sangeetha LLP in 2023, the judge also directed the defendants to pay costs of ₹10 lakh to the plaintiff toward court fees, lawyer’s fee, and other expenses. He further granted a permanent injunction restraining them from using the trade identities used between 2022 and 2023.

Justice Ramamoorthy, however, refused to restrain the Geetham chain of restaurants from continuing to use the trade identity that they had been using since November 2, 2023, after changing the colour scheme and font on the basis of an undertaking given before a Division Bench of the High Court in interim relief proceedings.

The judge said, the journey of Sangeetha had begun in 1985. It became a partnership firm in 2001 and was converted into a limited liability partnership in 2015. It had 29 restaurants in and around Chennai and 21 more in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.