Azlan Sulaiman JC:

Introduction

[1] On a balmy night in Worli, Bombay (as Mumbai was then known) in 1972, the excitement in the air was palpable. Legendary actor, Dilip Kumar, who dominated the Hindi film industry in the late 40s, 50s and 60s, was JK Kapur's honoured guest at the grand opening of the latter's inaugural and flagship restaurant called 'Copper Chimney'.

[2] Fast forward 50 years. Around 20 Copper Chimney restaurants have since opened in India, with a further two in Dubai, UAE, and one each in the UK and Kuwait. The plaintiff has further registered trademarks containing the word 'Copper Chimney' in those countries and in Australia. However, while exploring the idea of opening 'Copper Chimney' restaurants in Malaysia, the plaintiff discovered that the defendant had already registered in Malaysia Trademark No. 2014007985, a Stylized Word Mark in class 43 for "services for providing food and drink; temporary accommodation; all included in class 43 ("defendant's mark") that looks like this:

"COPPER CHIMNEY"

[3] Nevertheless, the plaintiff's further inquiries suggested that, despite registering the defendant's mark, the defendant had neither opened nor operated any resta