BURGER KING CORPORATION …..Plaintiff
Versus
SWAPNIL PATIL & ORS. …..Defendants
Date of the Order:- 15.09.2023
Plaintiff- Burger King Corporation seeking protection of its marks ‘BURGER KING’ and also the Crescent Logo Design and Hamburger Refresh Design Logo.
Why Plaintiff has filed the case?
The claim of the Plaintiffs was that some of the Defendants were offering fake franchises under the Burger King Trade Mark to unsuspecting persons, and duping them of large sums of money.
Plaintiff had filed two applications seeking orders in respect of fake, illegal and fraudulent websites using the name ‘Burger King’ in an unauthorised manner. After the filing of the applications and during the court proceedings, another domain name was also brought to the notice of the Hon’ble Court. Thus, the Court took into consideration the said illegal domain names, which are as under:
i. www.burgerkingind.co.in as also the attached email address and bank account
ii. www.burgerkingfranchisee.com
On 10th May,2022, interim injunctions was granted to the Plaintiff. Where Hon’ble Court recognized, Plaintiff’s right in the mark ‘BURGER KING’ and in subsequent orders it was extending the other domain names as well The Plaintiff has, however, come across further defrauding by unknown persons and using the above two domain names, other than domain names already ordered to be blocked.
What is with the Franchise of Burger King?
It was revealed that some unsuspecting consumer who wanted to obtain a Burger King franchise have paid a sum of Rs.2,65,000/- to the bank account of the domain name at serial no. (i) i.e. www.burgerkingind.co.in.
In addition, the email being used for the fraudulent activity is
[email protected]. The Domain Name Registrar of this website is GoDaddy LLC and the DNR of the website www.burgerkingfranchisee.com is FastDomain Inc.
All these domain names and websites, as well as the bank accounts operated through these domain names, which were being used to fraudulently collect money under the name of the Plaintiff by misusing the Plaintiff’s brand and marks.
Hon’ble High Directions:- Hon’ble Court extended the injunction order dated 10th May, 2022 to cover these domain names.
On Bank Accounts, Honble Court said that, there is an urgent need to stop any further amounts being received in these fraudulent bank accounts.
Directions to Domain Registrar & Banks were issued by Hon’ble Court:
(i) An interim injunction was granted restraining www.burgerkingind.co.in and www.burgerkingfranchisee.com in any manner using the mark/name BURGER KING or the logos extracted above, for any purpose, including for collecting moneys
under the garb of issuing franchises, dealerships etc.
(ii) GoDaddy.com LLC was directed to suspend/block the domain name www.burgerkingind.co.in ensuring that the website is no longer accessible to any consumers.
(iii) Go daddy was directed that if the email address [email protected] is opened by or through GoDaddy.com LLC, the said email shall also be blocked.
(iv) FastDomain Inc was directed to suspend/block the domain name www.burgerkingfranchisee.com ensuring that the website is no longer accessible to any consumers. If any email addresses are opened through the DNR- FastDomain Inc, the said email addresses shall also be blocked.
(v) NIXI was also directed not to permit any domain name/website to be opened under the ‘.co.in’ or ‘.in’ extensions consisting of the mark `Burgerking’, where the words ‘BURGER’ and ‘KING’ appear
together.
(vi) The bank account number 60449688238 opened through the
West Andheri branch of Bank of Maharashtra was directed to froze the bank account with immediate effect and the complete statement of the said bank account be placed on record by the Bank of Maharashtra. The concerned Headquarters of the Bank of Maharashtra should also investigate as to how a bank account in the name of `Burger Kind India Pvt Ltd’ has been permitted to be opened, without verifying the credentials.
(vii) The Cyber Cell/ IFSO Delhi Police was allowed to investigate the mobile numbers associated with Defendants and take action in accordance with law.
(viii) DoT and MeitY was directed to issue blocking orders qua the above domain names/websites with immediate effect. The same shall be given effect to by all ISPs.
(ix) Bank of Maharashtra was directed to disclose the identity of the
account holder, KYC details and any other documents, which it may have.
(x) A Mareva injunction was granted for freezing the Defendants bank accounts.
(xi) The Delhi Police was directed to obtain all the CDR records from the respective telecom service providers, namely Bharti Airtel, Reliance InfoComm Ltd., Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and investigate into the matter. All action in accordance with law shall be taken against the persons who are involved in this illegal and unlawful activity. If a FIR needs to be registered, the same may also be done. Delhi Police to place a status report in respect of the same by the next date of hearing. Applications were allowed.
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