Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) has granted an injunction restraining Pune-based restaurant Yokoso Sizzlers from using trademarks similar to Yoko Sizzlers till the final suit is decided.
In an ad-interim relief, justice Manish Pitale granted the injunction sought by Yoko Sizzlers restraining Yokoso Sizzlers from using “the mark Yokoso Sizzlers or any other trademark identical with or deceptively similar” to the registered trademark of Yoko Sizzlers before adjourning the matter to February 24, 2023.
Yoko Sizzlers, a part of Y H Rizvi group of companies, said in its suit that it had come across a restaurant in Pune with the mark Yokoso Sizzlers in August 2022 and also had a website www.yokososizzlers.com similar to its website.
Upon coming across the alleged infringement of its trademark, Yoko Sizzlers issued a cease-and-desist notice to Yokoso Sizzlers on August 25, 2022, asking the restaurant in Pune’s Erandwane to stop using the trademark. The Pune eatery replied to the notice claiming that there was no similarity between the two marks and that the two words “Yoko” and “Yokoso” have different meanings in the Japanese language following which the suit was filed.
Rashmin Khandekar along with Omkar Khanwilkar, Kartik Gantha and Mujtaba Rizvi, appearing for Yoko Sizzlers, had submitted that its client has been operating in the hospitality business since 1986 and has been using the trademark from that year, though it was formally registered it on in 1994 in Class 30 and Class 42 (international trademark classification of goods and services) They said the trademark has been in the public domain for a long period, and the brand has been running outlets all over the country and has its international outlets in UAE, Qatar, and UK.
The court observed that the registration certificate clearly showed that Yoko Sizzlers had registered the trademark on June 16, 1994, and accepted its contentions that the trademark has been in the public domain for a long time and it has a national and international presence.
“In this situation, a bare comparison between the two marks would show that the defendant appears to have added the alphabet “so” to the registered trademark of the plaintiff. Hence, prima facie, the impugned mark of the defendant is found to be deceptively similar to the registered trademark of the plaintiff,” observed the court in its January 19 order uploaded on Monday.
The court also said that the documents placed on record indicate that Yokoso Sizzlers has not only used the deceptively similar mark for its restaurant but other aspects of the brand – layout of the restaurant, and table mats used also prima facie indicate the efforts on part of it to copy the business practices of Yoko Sizzlers.
Commenting on the response from Yokoso Sizzlers to the cease-and-desist notice, the court observed “Prima facie there does not appear to be substance in the stand taken on behalf of the defendant. Merely because Yoko and Yokoso have different meanings in the Japanese language, it would not amount to the dissimilarity of the marks in question. Therefore, it is found that a strong prima facie case is made out on behalf of the plaintiff.” Granting and interim relief, it said unless it is granted, the plaintiff will suffer grave and irreparable loss.
Last year, the High Court granted similar relief to Asma Farida Noorani who runs the Haji Ali Juice Centre near Haji Ali Dargah in a trademark infringement case against Vijayawada-based Haji Ali Fresh Juice Centre.