Bombay High Court Protects Natural Ice Creams From Fake Franchise Offers By Impersonators

Justice Madhav J. Jamdar, by an order dated October 8, 2026, granted ad-interim relief to Siddhant Ice Creams LLP in its trademark and copyright infringement suit.

The Court directed that the matter be listed for further consideration on January 7, 2027.

The plaintiffs alleged that unknown persons, operating under various names and aliases, had created websites and communications mimicking Natural Ice Creams to mislead prospective franchisees, business associates and customers.

According to the submissions, the fraudsters issued forged franchise letters and offered franchise opportunities, inducing people to make payments in exchange for licences to sell the company's products.

The plaintiffs further alleged that the impugned website falsely identified a person named “RK Gupta” as the founder of the business, which was established by the late Raghunandan Kamath in 1984.

Siddhant Ice Creams LLP claims to be the registered proprietor of the Natural family of marks, while the second plaintiff is the business's master franchisee and manufactures and supplies ice cream to its franchise network across India.

To establish the brand's goodwill, the plaintiffs placed before the Court details of its business growth, registrations, sales and promotional expenditure. They stated that the network had expanded to more than 193 franchisees across 42 cities.

The Court noted that the business had operated since 1984 and that the plaintiffs held registered trademarks covering the Natural brand and its variations. It observed that the sales figures and promotional expenditure demonstrated the scale of the business and the goodwill associated with its marks.

“Accordingly, a very strong prima facie case is made for grant of ad interim relief,” the Court held, granting relief in terms of the specified prayers in the plaint.

The plaintiffs had sought injunctions restraining the defendants from using identical or deceptively similar marks, reproducing the brand's logos and artistic works, and using websites, domain names, email addresses or other communications to offer fraudulent franchise opportunities.

The order is an interim measure, and the allegations against the unidentified defendants have not been finally adjudicated.

For Siddhant Ice Creams: Advocate Hrishikesh Shukla a/w Rohit Iyengar & Mahir Amir i/b Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

For Defendant: Advocate S. P. Rajurkar