Access the order here.
The Delhi High Court has restrained a Delhi eatery, Benne Delhi, from using the names BENNE and BENNE DELHI. The restraint also covers their use as domain names or social media handles. Shimow Hospitality Private Limited, which runs the Benne dosa chain, filed this suit, and Justice Vikas Mahajan passed the ex parte ad interim order on October 16, 2026. Benne Delhi has not been heard yet, and the restraint will last until the next hearing.
The order records that the plaint itself states that “The word ‘benne’ means butter in the Kannada language and is often used by restaurants as a menu item in relation to butter dosa.” Therefore, the restraint is protecting a word that the plaintiff itself describes as common. The order does not yet discuss whether one business may claim a word which is too descriptive and common in the trade like the one at hand.
What exactly does the order restrain?
The court directed Benne Delhi to comply with the following restrictions until the next hearing:
“are restrained from using, offering its services, marketing, and advertising its business and/or allowing or permitting third parties to use, market and/or advertise the trade mark BENNE and/or BENNE DELHI … and/or any other trade mark or name identical and/or similar to the plaintiff’s trade mark … and its variants either as a trade mark, trade name, corporate name, domain name, social media handles or part thereof and/or in any other manner whatsoever so as to pass off its goods/services as and for the goods/services of the Plaintiff.”
The restraint is framed around passing off, but the order does not issue specific directions to the online platforms where Benne Delhi is listed or advertised. These platforms are also not parties to the suit, according to the plaintiff. Passing off refers to a business misrepresenting its goods or services as those of another business.
What happened in the court proceeding?
The order shows that the plaintiff, Shimow Hospitality, said:
- That the mark was conceptualised by them in 2023-24 “inspired from the Darshini concept and culture which is particularly dominant in Bengaluru”, and that Shimow Foods LLP assigned its rights in the mark to the company through a deed dated July 13, 2026 in the mark to the company.
- That its first outlets opened in Bandra, Mumbai, in April 2024, and that it now operates five outlets, with three in Mumbai and two in Delhi NCR.
- Appearing for the plaintiff, Senior Advocate Chander M. Lall cited visits by celebrities, including Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, media and food-vlogger coverage, and rising turnover to argue that the mark “has acquired formidable goodwill and reputation in a short span of time“
- That the company had applied for copyright registration of its logo as an original ‘artistic work’ under the Copyright Act, 1957.
The plaintiff submitted that the defendant was found to be using BENNE “for its cloud kitchen and/or outlet for an identical cuisine” and that upon research they found that the Trade Marks Registry showed that Benne Delhi had applied in April 2026 to register the mark in class 43, which covers restaurant services, “on a ‘proposed to be used’ basis“. Lall said that “this makes it evident that the defendant has not used the impugned mark prior to April 2026“.
Benne Delhi’s business “is also registered under the impugned mark on various food delivery platforms, such as Swiggy and Magicpin, and is also being advertised on social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram,” said the plaintiff.
What did the court decide?
Upon hearing the plaintiff’s case, the court ruled:
“Based on the above facts and circumstances, this Court is satisfied that the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for grant of ex parte ad interim injunction till the next date of hearing. The balance of convenience is also in favour of an ex parte ad interim order being passed. I am satisfied that the plaintiff will suffer an irreparable loss and injury if ex parte ad interim injunction is not granted.”
The court’s reasoning addresses the three-part test considered when granting an interim injunction, which includes: a prima facie case, the balance of convenience and the risk of irreparable harm.
Can a common word be one party’s trademark?
This issue has arisen before, too, with regard to regional and everyday words in Indian courts. One such example is the 2020 Matrimony.com case in the Madras High Court, where it was held that they do not have an exclusive right over the word “matrimony“. The Court had refused to restrain rivals from using phrases such as TAMIL MATRIMONY in Google ads, according to a note by LexOrbis lawyers.
Later, the same company had a dispute about the word “Jodii“, which is their matchmaking app’s name. In 2022, a single judge ruled that “Jodi“, meaning a couple or pair in several Indian languages, was descriptive. Later, Matrimony.com was restrained from using “Jodii” by a Division Bench due to it being deceptively similar to FreeElective Network’s registered Jodi365 mark, Inc42 reported. The parties were asked to explore a settlement as the Supreme Court declined to interfere immediately, Bar and Bench reported. However, unlike Jodi365, the Benne mark has not been registered, and the orders show that there has only been an application by Shimow Hospitality.
What happens next?
Benne Delhi has four weeks to file its reply to the injunction application. The plaintiff must comply with Order XXXIX Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure within two weeks and send the application and supporting documents to the defendants since the injunction was granted without notice. An affidavit of compliance needs to be filed a week after that. The Joint Registrar is set to hear the case on December 9, 2026, following which the court will take it up on February 9, 2027.
Also read:
- CCPA fines Hogar Rs 1 lakh over walkie-talkie ads, rejects defence that website only generates leads
- Is training AI on song lyrics fair use? US court weighs question as India proposes mandatory licensing
The post Delhi HC bars Benne Delhi from using ‘Benne’, Kannada for butter, until next hearing appeared first on MEDIANAMA.