The Delhi High Court on 6 November directed Eternal Limited to take down 132 restaurant listings on its food delivery platform Zomato and disclose the particulars of certain defendants and the persons operating those listings, in a trademark infringement suit filed by Kakas Hospitality.
Justice Tejas Karia observed that restaurant listings that use the essential features of an existing trademark and circumvent an earlier injunction warrant interim takedown directions. The Bench held:
“prima facie, the plaintiff has made out a case for taking down the new listings, as well as the fresh listings of Defendant Nos. 3 and 6, which have been made available to circumvent the earlier interim order.”
By an order dated 15 April 2026, the Court had restrained Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 from offering services under marks such as KAKE DAA HOTEL, KAKA KA HOTEL and KAKE KA DHABA, or any mark identical or deceptively similar to the plaintiff's marks KAKE-DA-HOTEL and KAKE-DA. It had also directed Zomato to take down the URLs identified in the order. It continued the injunction on 21 July 2026.
Subsequently, the plaintiff sought further directions against Zomato, arrayed as Defendant No. 7. Its counsel submitted that Defendant Nos. 3 and 6 had relisted their businesses on Zomato through different URLs while retaining the same postal addresses. Defendant No. 3 had adopted the names “Kaka's Kabab 'N' Chicken” and “Kaka's Chicken Mutton Kebab Point”, while Defendant No. 6 had listed its business as “KAKU PIZZA AND BURGER”.
The plaintiff also identified new listings, including “Kaka Da Dhaba”, “Kake Da Dhaba”, “Kake Da Chicken”, “Kake Da Punjabi Dhaba” and “Kake Da Express”. It alleged that these listings used 'KAKE-DA', the essential part of its mark, to offer identical services on the same platform.
It submitted that approximately 81 of these listings operated as cloud kitchens, making it difficult to identify and implead their operators. It sought urgent takedown, citing the anticipated increase in orders during the festive season.
Zomato's counsel agreed to comply with the directions but sought two weeks to do so in view of the holidays.
The Court directed Zomato to take down, block, delist or deactivate the 132 listings within two weeks, pending the next date of hearing.
The Bench also directed Zomato to disclose, within two weeks, the particulars available with it concerning Defendant Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 and the persons operating the listed entries. The disclosure must include names, contact numbers, email and postal addresses, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence numbers, Goods and Services Tax Identification Numbers (GSTIN), Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) and linked bank account details.
Accordingly, the High Court continued the interim orders and listed the matter for further hearing on 23 February 2027.
For Kakas Hospitality: Advocates Nitin Sharma, Sudarshan MJ and Harrshita Pothiraj
For Defendant: Advocate Sarthak Sharma for D7