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Informist, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025

 

--HC rejects ITC, ITC Hotels plea to bar Adyar Gate from using Dakshin name 

--HC: Adyar Gate to not expand ops of 'Dakshin' restaurants beyond Chennai 

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Thursday rejected pleas by ITC Ltd. and its associate company ITC Hotels Ltd. to restrain Adyar Gate Hotels Ltd. from using or dealing in the restaurant and food business under the name 'Dakshin' till the permanent injunction suit filed by the petitioners is decided. However, Adyar Gate Hotels cannot expand its restaurant operations with the 'Dakshin' name beyond Chennai, the high court said, noting Adyar Gate Hotels' undertaking.  

 

The high court's order follows a plea filed by ITC Ltd. and ITC Hotels to restrain Adyar Gate Hotels from infringing on the registered trademarks and copyright of the plaintiffs relating to the name 'Dakshin'. In October, 2024 the hotels and hospitality business of ITC Ltd. was demerged through a scheme of arrangement, and transferred to ITC Hotels. Pursuant to the merger, ITC Ltd. granted an exclusive licence to ITC Hotels to use several of its well-known trademarks, including the 'Dakshin' mark, for the operation of premium restaurants. 

 

ITC Ltd. had said that it held various trademark registrations in respect of the mark 'Dakshin'. The earliest registration granted to ITC Ltd. was dated Dec. 13, 2000, with use claimed from Apr. 1, 1989. ITC Ltd. had said that the highly stylised and unique mark 'Dakshin' was adopted by it for use in the restaurant on the premises of Welcomgroup Park Sheraton Hotel, Chennai, in 1989. Since the launch of that restaurant in 1989, ITC Ltd. has garnered immense goodwill and reputation with respect to this restaurant, the petitioners said. 

 

In view of the success of the first restaurant, ITC Ltd. subsequently launched branches of the restaurant in various other hotels run by it across India. It is one of the conglomerate's most awarded restaurants, said ITC Ltd. It was operating 'Dakshin' in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Visakhapatnam and Bengaluru, and the revenue generated by these under the mark for 2023-24 (Apr-Mar) was to the tune of INR 123.8 million, ITC Ltd. said.

 

It said it had entered into an operating services agreement with Adyar Gate Hotels in 1985 and a hotel under the name 'Welcomgroup Park Sheraton' was launched the same year, under the terms of the agreement. As per the agreement, the present as well as future trademarks, trade names, service marks and other intellectual property were to belong to ITC Ltd. and Adyar Gate was only conferred limited right to use the same. The agreement also provided that Adyar Gate would have no right to use the trademarks after the expiry of the agreement.

 

In 2015, the agreement expired. Thereafter, the petitioners withdrew from the hotel and the hotel was transferred to a third party and renamed 'Crowne Plaza, Chennai, Adyar Park'. ITC Ltd. said that even though Adyar Gate did not have any right to use the 'Dakshin' name after the expiry of the terms of the agreement, the petitioner, on account of its long relationship with the defendant, did not object to the restaurant under the given name, which continued to operate even though the plaintiffs had withdrawn from the hotel after 2015. The restaurant under the name 'Dakshin' continued to operate till Dec. 31, 2023, when the hotel shut down.

 

ITC Ltd. said that in October, 2024, the petitioners were shocked to learn about Adyar Gate opening a standalone restaurant at a new location using an identical mark 'Dakshin'. Further, the defendant was using the mark in an identical style and get-up as used by the plaintiffs, and serving similar cuisine as the plaintiff's restaurants, ITC Ltd. and ITC Hotels said.

 

At 1103 IST, shares of ITC Ltd. were up 0.5% at INR 402.30 on the National Stock Exchange, and shares of ITC Hotels Ltd. were down 0.2% at INR 207.20.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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