No monopoly over Chur Chur Naan, Amritsari Chur Chur Naan: HC

New Delhi: There cannot be any monopoly over the terms 'Chur Chur Naan' and 'Amritsari Chur Chur Naan' as they are "completely generic", the Delhi High Court has held. The court said the word 'Chur Chur' merely means "crushed" and 'Chur Chur Naan' means 'crushed Naan' and nothing more, and it is incapable of acquiring trademark signification.

Justice Prathiba M Singh passed the order while hearing a plea filed by Praveen Kumar Jain, the owner of an outlet in Paharganj here that sells naan and other food items. He had claimed exclusive rights on the expression 'Chur Chur Naan' as he had the registration for it. Jain had filed the suit for alleged trademark infringement against another outlet which uses a similar expression.

The court said if registrations are wrongly granted or applied for such generic expressions, it cannot ignore it. It said these terms are used in normal conversational language and there cannot be any monopoly in respect of such an expression.

"'Chur Chur' is a terminology which is used in normal conversational language and there cannot be any monopoly in respect of an expression such as 'Chur Chur'. " "The plaintiff has obtained registration of the marks '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.