The Indian Judiciary has been showing interest in many offbeat topics. In the latest, the Delhi High Court held that there cannot be any monopoly over the terms ‘Chur Chur Naan’ and ‘Amritsari Chur Chur Naan’ as they are “completely generic”.
Justice Prathiba M Singh was hearing a petition filed by Praveen Kumar Jain, the owner of an outlet in Paharganj, Delhi, that sells naan and other food items, who alleged trademark infringement against another outlet which uses a similar name for their dish.
The court said the word ‘Chur Chur’ merely means “crushed” and ‘Chur Chur Naan’ means “crushed Naan” and nothing more, and thus cannot acquire trademark signification. The court furthered that these terms are used in normal colloquial language and there cannot be any monopoly in respect of such expressions.
“The plaintiff has obtained registration of the trademarks ‘Chur chur Naan, Amritsari Chur Chur Naan’, but the same would not in any manner prevent the bonafide description of the character of the naan which is crushed, that is, ‘chur chur’,” the court said.
Previously, the Delhi High Court had also shown a keen interest in defining ‘Sandals’ and ‘Chappals’. Moreover, after successfully passing its verdict on ladies footwear, the Indian Judiciary shifted its focus to discovering what really causes people to indulge in extra-marital affairs.
According to a report a bench of the Madras High Court in March this year, asked a set of twenty questions to Central and State Governments, to ‘find out’ the reasons as to why people resort to illicit relationships despite being married.
The questions included whether ‘public exposure of women’, mingling in office, mega serials on TV or forced marriages can be the reason why people indulge in extramarital affairs.
In another bizarre incident, the Bombay High Court had last year lashed out at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for its faulty online approval process for goat slaughter on Eid after a person named ‘Neil Armstrong’ had obtained permission to slaughter 5 goats inside one of their own courtrooms.