Delhi HC Grants Interim Relief To Domino’s Against Trademark Infringement By Multiple Pizza Outlets [Read Order]

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has delivered a significant directive granting interim relief to popular pizza chain Domino’s by restraining 15 entities from using deceptively similar marks to market their pizza products, emphasizing the protection of trademark rights and consumer interests.

Justice Saurabh Banerjee addressed a commercial suit filed by Domino’s IP Holder LLC and Jubilant FoodWorks Limited against M/s. Domnics Pizza and others, seeking a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from trademark infringement, passing off, dilution, tarnishment, and damages. The court noted that the defendants had unauthorizedly adopted trade names/marks that were deceptively similar and phonetically identical to Domino’s trademarks.

Addressing the specific concerns about the similarity of marks, the court observed through a comparative analysis that the defendants’ marks — including “Domnic’s Pizza,” “Domnik Pizza,” “Dominic Pizza,” “Dominic’s Pizza,” “Daminic’s Pizza,” and “M/s. Dominic Pizza” — were deceptively similar to Domino’s registered trademarks and the erstwhile trade name “Dominick’s Pizza.”

The court also highlighted the defendants’ infringing activities, stating: “The defendants have either wholly copied the plaintiffs’ mark or have just removed the letter ‘K’ from the plaintiffs’ mark ‘Dominick’, and made minor alterations such as the addition or subtraction of the letter ‘i’ or ‘s’, or replaced the letter ‘o’ with ‘a’, so as to come close to the plaintiffs’ trademarks and ride on their goodwill.”

The court emphasized the particular significance of trademark protection in the food industry, noting: “Since the present dispute involves edible products, this Court is of the view that the threshold for establishing deceptive similarity is lower than that applied in other cases. In essence, any confusion between such products, if allowed to continue, can lead to disastrous consequences on human health.”

In a comprehensive interim injunction, the court directed: “The defendant Nos. 1 to 15, their proprietors, partners, directors, officers, servants, agents, franchisors, and all others acting on their behalf are restrained from advertising, selling, offering for sale, marketing, etc., any product, packaging, menu cards, advertising material, labels, stationery articles, website or any other documentation using, depicting, or displaying in any manner whatsoever, the marks/names ‘Domnic’s’, ‘Dominic’, ‘Dominic’s’, ‘Domnik’, ‘Daminic’, ‘Daminic’s’, or any other mark identical or deceptively similar to the plaintiffs’ trademarks.”

The court also directed food delivery platforms Zomato (Defendant No. 16) and Swiggy (Defendant No. 17) to delist, take down, and suspend the impugned listings from their mobile applications, websites, and other platforms.

The court noted the established history of the Domino’s brand, which was founded in 1960 in Michigan, USA, and has expanded to over 90 countries with more than 21,000 stores worldwide. For over five decades, the plaintiffs have continuously used the trademarks “Domino’s” and “Domino’s Pizza” and have obtained registrations in India under various classes.

The court observed that the defendants were operating in a surreptitious manner, making service difficult, as they often operated through online portals with fictitious addresses.

The matter has been listed for further consideration on 17th September 2025, with the defendants granted four weeks to file their reply.

Mr. Shantanu Sahay, Ms. Imon Roy, and Ms. Vareesha Irfan, Advocates, appeared for the plaintiffs, while Mr. Abhay Pratap Singh and Ms. Mitali Umat, Advocates, appeared for Swiggy.

Case Title: Domino’s IP Holder LLC & Anr. vs. M/s. Domnics Pizza & Ors.

[Read Order]