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Informist, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026

 

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

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Friday rejected a plea by ITC Ltd. and ITC Hotels Ltd. to restrain Adyar Gate Hotels Ltd. from using the name 'Dakshin' for restaurant and food business till the permanent injunction suit is decided. The apex court said that the case was still at an interim stage and it did not find any reason to interfere with the Delhi High Court's order to refuse injunction to ITC Ltd. and ITC Hotels at this stage.

 

 

Upholding a single judge's order, the high court's division bench had questioned the silence of ITC and ITC Hotels while Adyar Gate used the 'Dakshin' name from 2015 to 2023. The silence amounts to tacitly allowing Adyar Gate to continue to use the mark till 2023 and, thereby, build up a reputation, the court said. In such circumstances, Section 33(1) of the Trade Marks Act specifically proscribes the grant of any injunction against the continued use of the mark, the court said. Significantly, even after Adyar Gate registered the trademark 'Dakshin', ITC has not chosen to file any application seeking rectification of the trademark, the court said. ITC and ITC Hotels have, therefore, allowed the registration to continue unchallenged, it said.

 

The high court's order followed a plea filed by ITC and ITC Hotels seeking to restrain Adyar Gate Hotels from infringing registered trademarks and copyright. In October 2024, ITC demerged the hotels and hospitality business to ITC Hotels. After the demerger, ITC granted ITC Hotels an exclusive licence to use several of its well-known trademarks, including the 'Dakshin' mark, for operating premium restaurants. 

 

ITC said that it held various trademark registrations in respect of 'Dakshin'. The earliest registration granted to ITC was dated December 2000. ITC 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.

 

ITC subsequently launched 'Dakshin' restaurants in various other hotels across India. It is one of the conglomerate's most-awarded restaurants, ITC said. 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 said.

 

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

 

In 2015, the agreement expired. Thereafter, ITC withdrew from the hotel, which was transferred to a third party and renamed 'Crowne Plaza, Chennai, Adyar Park'. ITC said that even though Adyar Gate did not have any right to use the 'Dakshin' name after the expiry of the agreement, the company did not object to the restaurant operating under that name, which continued to operate even after the plaintiffs withdrew from the hotel in 2015. The restaurant named 'Dakshin' continued to operate until December 2023, when it was shut down.

 

ITC said that in October 2024, it was shocked to learn that Adyar Gate had opened a standalone restaurant at a new location using the mark 'Dakshin'. Further, the defendant was using the mark in an identical style and get-up to that used by ITC, and serving similar cuisine, ITC said.

 

At 1140 IST, shares of ITC traded 0.1% lower at INR 267.70 on the National Stock Exchange, and those of ITC Hotels were down 1.4% at INR 161.76.  End

 

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

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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