Putting an end to a six year legal tussle, a district court has ruled in favour of the Delhi-based Carnatic Cafe by permanently restraining a Bengaluru-based restaurant from using the mark āCARNATICā for their business, noting that it infringes upon the registered trademark of the cafe.
āThe defendants (Lemonpepper Hospitality), their directors, officers, employees, agents, franchisees, distributors, representatives, assignees and any other persons acting for or on their behalf are permanently restrained from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, marketing, advertising or rendering any restaurant-related or allied services under the mark āCARNATICā or any other mark, logo, device or domain name identical with or deceptively similar to the plaintiffās (owner of restaurant, Pavan Jambagi) registered trademark āCARNATIC CAFĆ,āā said District Judge (Commercial) Neelam Singh of Saket Court in a October 29 order.
At the same time, the court also restrained the Bengaluru-based firm ā Lemonpepper Hospitality Private Limited ā from using any domain name with āCARNATICā or any āmark deceptively similarā to it. Further, it directed the firm to transfer the domain name to Carnatic Cafe within a month’s time.
ā…this court is satisfied that the plaintiff has successfully established its statutory rights as registered proprietor, its prior and continuous use, the goodwill associated with the mark, and the Defendants unauthorised use of the identical mark āCARNATICā,ā the court said, awarding damages and costs of Rs 60,000 in favour of the restaurant to compensate for the loss of goodwill and reputation.
In December 2018, Carnatic Cafe found out that the Bengaluru-based firm had started operating a business under the name āCARNATICā. This prompted them to move the court in April 2019. While hearing the suit at that time, a Delhi court had passed an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of Carnatic Cafe.
Carnatic Cafe had maintained that the adoption of its mark was without any authority, permission or licence. It argued that the defendant restaurant, which was in the same industry, was fully aware of Carnatic Cafe’s rights and ānevertheless proceeded to adopt the impugned mark with the intention of exploiting the goodwill associated with the plaintiffās brandā.
The court also noted that the Bengaluru-based firm had not filed its written statements and submissions within the limited time period.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the ācannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employerās house in Noida, murdered them, and āate their fleshā ā his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.Ā
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Governmentās national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag āfabricatedā evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhayās writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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