ABHAY AGARWAL Vs. PURANMAL GOODS PRIVATE LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Plaintiffs seek a restraint order against the Defendant on a cause of action in passing off in relation to a trade mark, combined with a cause of action in copyright infringement. The mark in question, i.e., the one over which the Plaintiffs claim protection is the one shown at Exhibit "C" to the Plaint, Plaint, p. 40.. This is used, according to the Plaintiffs, in relation to an outlet or chain of outlets in Dubai that serves Indian vegetarian cuisine and also sells a variety of vegetarian savouries, sweetmeats and so on. The mark is "PURANMAL". The artwork in which copyright is claimed shows an Indian male cook. He wears a traditional turban, very like the ones used in parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, and sports a virile moustache. In his hand he holds a ladle and he seems to be stirring something preparation in a distinctly Indian vessel or pot.

(2.) If asked to describe the relationship between the Plaintiffs and the Defendant, one might be tempted to fall back on a latter-day meme: it's complicated. For, it is not the Plaintiffs' case that the Defendant is unknown to it, a rank stranger that has imitated the mark. In fact, as the following narrative shows, the Defendant's use of the mark was in its inception permissive, and this is common ground. The Plaintiffs' case is that after a certain arrangement or understanding with the Defendant ended, the Defendant was no longer entitled to use the mark in question; and that the continued use of mark after the end of that arrangement amounts to passing off and copyright infringement. The arrangement or agreement pleaded is entirely oral.

(3.) I have heard Ms. Ghone for the Plaintiffs and Ms. Rajadhyaksha for Defendant at some length. With their assistance I have considered the material on record and the authorities cited. For the reasons that follow, I am not inclined to grant the injunction the Plaintiffs seek. There are far too many difficulties in the Plaintiffs' way, and to hold for the Plaintiffs demands an acceptance of much that little more than the purest conjecture.