Delhi HC Cracks Down On Ghaziabad-Based Eatery Dominick Pizza For Infringing Domino’s Trademark

The Delhi High Court barred a Ghaziabad-based pizza outlet, Dominick Pizza, from using its name and other trademarks that infringe on the multinational pizza company, Domino’s Pizza. The court found that the firm’s name ‘Dominick Pizza’ was deceptively similar to Domino’s Pizza’s registered trademarks and could cause confusion among customers.

The case was filed by Domino’s against Dominick Pizza for employing an identical name and using its registered trademarks. Justice C. Hari Shankar, who presided over the case, stressed on the phonetic similarity between the two marks and the likelihood of confusion among customers of average intelligence with an imperfect memory. 

The court expressed disapproval of the intent to capitalise on the reputation of a well-known brand by using a similar mark. The court also ordered Dominick Pizza to transfer its domain names to Domino’s and to change the name of several food items in the eatery's menu such as  ‘Cheese Burst’ and ‘Pasta Italiano’ from their pizza outlet’s menu.

"The intent to capitalise on the reputation of a known and established brand, by using a mark which is deceptively similar to the mark used by the brand, can, in a given case, give rise to a legitimate apprehension of quality compromise by the imitator," the court said as quoted by news agency IANS. 

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The court further emphasised the responsibility of courts to prevent such imitative attempts in trademarks, especially for food items or eateries. It said that a higher degree of care and caution was expected to be observed in such cases. The court also clarified that the determination of whether an infringing mark may cause confusion was a matter of subjective discretion for the court and not a matter to be decided based on customer evidence.

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The court had issued an interim order against Dominick Pizza in August 2022. In the final order, it restrained Dominick Pizza from using the contested marks and directed it to withdraw its application from the Trade Marks Registry as well.