Geetham used a trade identity deceptively similar to Sangeetha’s between June 2022 and Nov. 2023: Madras HC

The Madras High Court has held that the Geetham chain of restaurants in Chennai had adopted a trade identity deceptively similar to that of the popular Sangeetha chain of restaurants between June 1, 2022, and November 2, 2023, with a view to convince consumers that Sangeetha had metamorphosed into Geetham.

Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy concurred with senior counsel A.K. Sriram that Sangeetha Caterers and Consultants LLP had established the charge of passing off and is, therefore, entitled to the entire profits earned by the owners of Geetham chain of restaurants between June 1, 2002, and November 2, 2023.

The judge directed Rasnam Foods, RSM Foods, Prasanam Foods, and GVR Foods Private Limited to provide a true and proper statement of account of revenue earned by operating restaurants under the trade name Geetham between 2022 and 2023 and pay the profits earned during that period to the owners of Sangeetha.

Partly decreeing a civil suit filed by Sangeetha LLP in 2023, the judge also directed the defendants to pay costs of ₹10 lakh to the plaintiff towards court fees, lawyer’s fee, and other expenses. He further granted a permanent injunction restraining them from using the trade identities used between 2022 and 2023.

Justice Ramamoorthy, however, refused to restrain the Geetham chain of restaurants from continuing to use the trade identity that they had been using since November 2, 2023, after changing the colour scheme and font on the basis of an undertaking given before a Division Bench of the High Court in interim relief proceedings.

Recalling the history, the judge said, the journey of Sangeetha had begun in 1985. It became a partnership firm in 2001 and a got converted into a limited liability partnership in 2015. It had 29 restaurants in and around Chennai and 21 more in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

Though the word ‘Sangeetha’, on a standalone basis, had not been registered as a trademark, the name with a picture of a veena across it and the names such as SVR SANGEETHA, SANGEETHA VEG Restaurant, Sangeetha VEG EXPRESS AND APOORVA SANGEETHA had been registered.

In 2011, N. Murali of Rasnam Foods had approached P. Suresh, the partner of Sangeetha LLP, with a request to grant a franchise. Accordingly, several franchise agreements were executed for starting restaurants at multiple locations in and around Chennai, and Mr. Suresh, too, became a shareholder in the defendant firm.

However, in 2022, a discord arose between the franchisor and the franchisee and hence, it was decided to terminate all the franchise agreements with effect from May 31, 2022. From the very next day, the defendants began running restaurants in the name of Geetham from the same locations.

Hence, Sangeetha LLP filed the suit and obtained an interim injunction from Justice P.T. Asha on September 22, 2023. However, after taking the order on appeal, the defendants changed the colour scheme of their logo and also the font, and issued newspaper advertisements in November 2023 distancing themselves from Sangeetha.

Therefore, Justice Ramamoorthy held that the owners of Geetham were liable to pay to Sangeetha the profits earned between June 1, 2022, and November 2, 2023. He also recorded the statement of Mr. Murali that the annual turnover in 2021 was around ₹110 crore and the approximate profit was between ₹4 crore to ₹4.5 crore.

Published – March 28, 2026 04:27 pm IST