Delhi High Court Temporarily Restrains Mumbai Café Operator From Using 'MOCHA KAFFEE' Trademark

The Delhi High Court has temporarily restrained Mumbai-based café operator Mocha Kaffee from offering, marketing or advertising its business under the “MOCHA KAFFEE” mark.

The court found that the mark was deceptively similar to the registered “MOCHA” trademarks of Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality Pvt. Ltd.

Justice Jyoti Singh granted an ex parte ad interim injunction after finding that Impresario had made out a prima facie case of trademark infringement and passing off.

The court also found that the balance of convenience favoured Impresario. It further held that the company was likely to suffer irreparable harm if interim protection was not granted.

Impresario operates restaurant and café brands including Mocha Café and Bar, Social, Smoke House Deli and Prithvi Café. It adopted the “MOCHA” trademark in 2001 when it opened its first café and bar in Churchgate, Mumbai. The company currently operates 29 restaurants and cafés under the MOCHA mark across India.

The company is the registered proprietor of “MOCHA” and its variants across several classes, including Class 43. Class 43 covers services relating to the provision of food and drink. Its marks include MOCHA ARTHOUSE, MOCHA MOJO, MOCHA COFFEES AND CONVERSATIONS and MOCHA BAKERY.

According to Impresario, it came across Mocha Kaffee's cafés in Mumbai in the first week of August 2024. The cafés were operating under the “MOCHA KAFFEE” marks and offering coffee, shakes and other beverages. The business was also advertising its outlets through platforms including Zomato, Swiggy and Instagram.

Impresario issued a cease-and-desist notice on August 6, 2024. It followed this with notices on December 27, 2024 and June 4, 2025.

The company also approached Zomato, Swiggy, Justdial, Magicpin, Restaurant Guru, Yappe, Mappls, Google Maps and Instagram seeking takedowns. It claimed that none of the notices or complaints received a response. The mark, it said, continued to remain visible on the platforms.

The company further claimed that Mocha Kaffee continued to use “MOCHA CAFE” in Hindi on the façade and name boards of its outlets. Several members of the public had also referred to the outlets as “MOCHA CAFE” in online reviews. Impresario claimed that this increased the likelihood of confusion in the market.

Impresario placed its turnover and promotional-expense figures before the court to establish the goodwill built around the MOCHA mark over the years.

The court observed that the figures prima facie showed a “formidable reputation and goodwill”.

The judge further observed that the trademark had become “a source identifier of Plaintiff's services and is exclusively associated with Plaintiff.”

The court found that the similarities between the rival marks went beyond the use of the word “MOCHA”.

“Defendant has adopted Plaintiff's registered trademark MOCHA in its entirety and the same is the leading and prominent feature of the impugned trade mark MOCHA KAFFEE,” the court observed.

It further noted that “KAFFEE” was a misspelling of “CAFE” and phonetically identical to it. Impresario itself used the mark “MOCHA CAFE AND BAR” for identical services.

The court also pointed to the identical maroon/red, black and white colour combination used in the rival branding. It noted the manner in which “MOCHA” was combined with descriptive expressions.

The judge also considered the tagline “Think Coffee, Think Mocha” used by Mocha Kaffee. She found it deceptively similar to Impresario's “MOCHA COFFEES AND CONVERSATIONS”.

“This prima facie shows that Defendant has attempted to come as close as possible to Plaintiff's trade mark to take advantage of the goodwill of Plaintiff,” the court noted.

On the likelihood of confusion, the court took particular note of online reviews in which members of the public had referred to Mocha Kaffee's outlets as “MOCHA CAFÉ”.

“The fact that members of the public have themselves referred to Defendant's outlets as 'MOCHA CAFÉ' in their online reviews, prima facie demonstrates that confusion is not merely likely, but is manifesting in the market,”the order states

The court also noted that the rival services were identical. They had a common consumer base and were offered through common trade channels.

The court found that there was a likelihood that consumers would believe that the services were associated with Impresario.

The court observed that the use of the impugned mark was detrimental to Impresario's reputation as well as consumers. Consumers could be led to avail themselves of services of inferior quality while believing that they belonged to Impresario.

It accordingly restrained Mocha Kaffee and all those acting on its behalf until the next date of hearing. They cannot offer services, market or advertise the business, or permit third parties to do so, under “MOCHA KAFFEE”.

The restraint also covers any trademark identical or deceptively similar to Impresario's “MOCHA” trademark and its variants.

The suit has been listed before the Joint Registrar on September 3, 2026. The injunction application has been made returnable before the court on December 2, 2026.